Flower of Devotion

The Most Holy Virgin Love said to the venerable Mary of Jesus:

“When men have ever finished their short course of life and are at the end of that time which God has allotted to them to merit eternal life, then all their illusions will also come to an end. At that time they will know by experience the eternity into which they will have to enter; in it to endlessly either enjoy happiness or suffer suffering. Then the righteous will know what their happiness consisted in, and what their means of salvation consisted in; On the other hand, the rejected will see their miserable and eternal perdition
Oh, how happy is the man who, during the short duration of his life, is already trying to assimilate the recognition of those truths which he will soon learn from his own experience. This is true wisdom, that man should know his end at the beginning of his life, and not only at the end, so that he may not run in uncertainty, but that he should strive with certainty to attain the goal of his life. Just think of what he would do if, standing at the beginning of a race-place, he saw at the end of it a prize of high value, which he could win by running fast. Surely he would have begun to run with all his might, and would not have ceased to run; He wouldn’t slow down anywhere, and he wouldn’t let any obstacle stop him in his haste. If, on the other hand, he did not run, and paid no heed to the prize or the end of the journey, he would be considered mad, or it would be said that he did not know what he had lost. (1 Corinthians 9:24).
Such a racing place is the mortal life of man. The space to be traversed is short, and at its end stands eternal happiness as reward and eternal suffering as punishment. With these two extremes, the race of life ends. Its beginning is the time of birth, and all men are born in order that, when they come to the use of reason and freedom of will, they will traverse this space. This is a truth from which no one can acquit himself, least of all the faithful of the Catholic Church.
Where, for do all those who have the Catholic faith and do not live according to the above-mentioned truths have reason? Why do they allow themselves to be ensnared by vanity? Why, and for what purpose, do they allow their souls to become entangled in love with apparent and deceitful things? Why are they so blind and unaware of the end they are about to reach? Why don’t they want to acknowledge what awaits them at the end of it? Or do they not know that they are born to die, that their life is only a blink of an eye? Do they not know that death is infallible, that reward or punishment is inevitable and eternal? What will the lovers of the world say, those who devote their short lives exclusively to the accumulation of wealth and to the pursuit of honors; those who expend their strength and faculties in the enjoyment of petty and abominable bodily pleasures?
Ah, my friend! See how false and deceptive is the world you live in and look at! So abhor it with all your heart and forget it altogether. Never turn your eyes away from the end to which you are hastily approaching, and to the goal for which the Creator created you out of nothing. Let your desire always turn to this end, and let its attainment be the object of all your efforts and breaths. Do not look at that which is transient, vain, and deceptive. Let the love of God itself dwell in you, and consume all yourFor love is not true if it permits us to love anything other than God, and if it does not subject all other things but God to its dominion, if it does not mortify them and alienate them from itself. Let love be as strong in you as death is to live according to My wishes.