Ecclesiastes 9:7

For this reason Solomon also, in Ecclesiastes, covertly alluding to this grace, says, "Come hither, eat your bread with joy," that is, the mystical bread. "Come hither," he calls, a saving, beatific call. "And drink your wine with a merry heart," that is, the mystical wine. "And let oil be poured out upon your head": you see how he hints also of the mystical chrism. "And at all times let your garments be white, because the Lord approves what you do." It is now that the Lord approves what you do, for before you came to the grace your doings were "vanity of vanities."

"Go, eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a glad heart, for God has already approved your deeds. Let your garments always be white, and your head never lack oil. "Regarding the passage until that verse where he says: 'like fish caught in a fatal net, like birds seized in a snare, so are men caught in the moment of disaster when it falls upon them suddenly'. [Eccl. 9, 12.] Before I discuss them individually, it will be useful to link them together, so that it can be seen how all pertain to the same meaning. Because in a preceding chapter he had said that after men have died they are cut off from the heart of the living, and no one loves or hates them, as according to the poet, who says, "there is no struggle from the dead, who lack breath" [Verg. Aen. XI. 104]. And because they can do no more under the sun, now he introduces the idea of human madness and habit, whereby men of this world encourage themselves in turn to enjoy good things; and "prosopopoiian", using this in the manner of rhetoricians and poets, saying: "O man, since there is nothing for you after death, and death herself hears not my complaint, and while you live this brief life, take pleasure in enjoyment, hold feasts, suppress your worries with wine, and understand, since they are all given by God to be used by you. Wear white clothes, and let your head smell of ointments, and whichever woman pleases you, enjoy her embrace, thus lead this empty and vain life in empty and vain pleasure. For you will not have anything more than this, which you enjoy. Whatever you like, grasp quickly, lest it disappears. You shouldn't fear the vain things mentioned, for the reason for each individual work, either good or bad, will be given to you in the world of the dead. And there is no wisdom in death, no sense of this life after passing away. He also says that Epicurus, Aristippus, and the philosophers of Cyrene [i.e.Eratosthenes], and other of the philosophical flock hold this belief. But I prefer my own ideas, and I do not find, as some people think incorrectly, that everything happens by chance, and good and bad fate plays on human lives. I rather believe that everything happens by the order of God. For the fast runner should not think of his running when he runs, nor a strong man have faith in his strength, or a wise man think amassing great riches and wealth is prudent; the learned and…