Morning Prayer

A Reading from the Wisdom of Ben Sira.

12 Are you seated at the table of the great?    Do not be greedy at it,    and do not say, ‘How much food there is here!’ 13 Remember that a greedy eye is a bad thing.    What has been created more greedy than the eye?    Therefore it sheds tears for any reason. 14 Do not reach out your hand for everything you see,    and do not crowd your neighbour at the dish. 15 Judge your neighbour’s feelings by your own,    and in every matter be thoughtful. 16 Eat what is set before you like a well-bred person,    and do not chew greedily, or you will give offence. 17 Be the first to stop, as befits good manners,    and do not be insatiable, or you will give offence. 18 If you are seated among many others, do not help yourself before they do. 25 Do not try to prove your strength by wine-drinking,    for wine has destroyed many. 26 As the furnace tests the work of the smith,    so wine tests hearts when the insolent quarrel. 27 Wine is very life to human beings    if taken in moderation. What is life to one who is without wine?    It has been created to make people happy. 28 Wine drunk at the proper time and in moderation    is rejoicing of heart and gladness of soul. 29 Wine drunk to excess leads to bitterness of spirit,    to quarrels and stumbling. 30 Drunkenness increases the anger of a fool to his own hurt,    reducing his strength and adding wounds. 31 Do not reprove your neighbour at a banquet of wine, and do not despise him in his merrymaking; speak no word of reproach to him, and do not distress him by making demands of him. 1 If they make you master of the feast, do not exalt yourself;    be among them as one of their number. Take care of them first and then sit down; 2 when you have fulfilled all your duties, take your place, so that you may be merry along with them and receive a garland for your excellent leadership.

A Reading from the Book of Revelation.

7 And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, proclaiming, “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah, for the accuser of our comrades has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they did not cling to life even in the face of death. 12 Rejoice then, you heavens and those who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you with great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” 13 So when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle, so that she could fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to her place where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. 15 Then from his mouth the serpent poured water like a river after the woman, to sweep her away with the flood. 16 But the earth came to the help of the woman; it opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. 17 Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her children, those who keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus.