Eccl 9:10

“May your action be according to your ability! "Do with your might!" Act, according to the might you have received.… That might consists in the gifts of grace from the Holy Spirit. The one who has might and still does not increase his spiritual capacity does not use his might. The one, however, who forcefully does more than is right, not out of real desire, but out of ambition or for another reason, commits a sin.…The beginner acts like a novice, the one who has made progress like one who is on his way, the one who has reached perfection like one who is perfect. Thus, one has to act in accordance with one's ability. If you are not weak, do not act in a way that would diminish your ability to assert your will. On the other hand, do not attempt something which you cannot do!”

“"Whatever you are able to do with your strength, do it. For there is neither doing, nor reckoning, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave where you are going. "Do whatever you are presently able to do, and toil at it, because when you go down to the world of the dead there will be no place for repentance. Similar to this is what is taught by the Saviour: "work hard, while there is still day left; for night will come, when none is able to work" [Ioh. 9, 4.], but he says this: "to the grave where you are going", remember too that you believe Samuel was also in the grave, and before the advent of Christ, all men were retained by the law of the dead, however holy they were. More precisely, the holy were retained after the resurrection of the Lord in vain in the grave, and the apostle notes this, remarking, "it is better to die and be with Christ" [Phil. 1, 23.]. But he is with Christ, so that he might not be held back in the grave.”

“Since therefore the hours flee with their moments, act, dearest brothers, so that they may be retained in the reward of good work. Hear what the wise Solomon says: "Whatever your hand is able to do, work at it earnestly, for there will be neither work, nor knowledge, nor reason, nor wisdom in the underworld, to which you are hastening." Since therefore we do not know the time of coming death, and after death we cannot work, it remains that before death we seize the time that has been granted. For thus, yes thus, death itself when it comes will be conquered, if before it comes it is always feared.”

“And because no other reward is to be expected, man ought to take from this as much as he can. Thus he says: "Whatever your hand is able to do, work at it earnestly," that is, while you have time, do not wait for the future. And therefore it is added: "For neither work," in things to be done; "nor reason," in things to be deliberated; "nor knowledge," in things to be known; "nor wisdom," in things to be loved, "shall be in the netherworld, to which you hasten": these things are not there, because, as is said in Job 10, "that land is dark and covered with the shadow of death, where no order exists, but everlasting horror dwells." Thither sinners hasten, and all before the coming of Christ with respect to limbo. Job 17: "All my things shall descend into the deepest hell." Thither sinners hasten, drawing nearer day by day. Deuteronomy 32: "The day of destruction is near." Spiritually, then as regards the active, he says: "Whatever your hand is able to do, do it earnestly." To work earnestly is to work swiftly, against negligence: Ecclesiasticus 31: "In all your works be swift, and no infirmity shall befall you"; fervently, Proverbs 18: "He who is soft and slack in his work is the brother of him who destroys his own works"; continuously, so that one does not grow lukewarm: Ecclesiasticus 27: "If you do not hold yourself earnestly in the fear of the Lord, your house will quickly be overthrown"; perseveringly: 2 Timothy 2: "He who strives in the contest will not be crowned unless he has strived lawfully," that is, perseveringly. And the reason is added why one must earnestly do good works in the present: because the time of merit is brief; whence: "In the underworld there is no work," for exercising oneself in piety: John 9: "I must work while it is day." And therefore it is said in the last chapter of Galatians: "Let us do good while we have time, to all, but especially to the household of the faith." "There is no reason," for inquiring and discerning what is good, what is evil: Job 12: "They shall grope as in darkness and not in light, and he shall make them stagger like drunkards"; Isaiah 19: "And the Lord has mingled in their midst a spirit of dizziness." "There is no wisdom and knowledge": knowledge, namely for contemplating God in his works, nor wisdom, for contemplating him in himself: concerning these, Isaiah 33: "The riches of salvation are wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is his treasure."”