Flower of Devotion

Earthly goods lead the soul of man away from heavenly goods

The Most Holy Virgin Love said to Mary of Jesus:

“The mysteries of God, however well presented, make little impression on a man unless he consciously turns his mind to them, for he is accustomed of himself to deal with visible things. Man by nature is sluggish and little able to lift his soul to the highest, heavenly things. If, with this limited capacity for virtue, he directs all his energies and abilities to the acquisition of the illusory goods of the world, there can be no other result than that he is getting farther and farther away from the truth, that he is becoming accustomed to the darkness, and in the course of time he will come so far that he cannot endure the light. 2:14.) This is the reason why men who are imbued with an earthly spirit and bestial pay so little attention to the works and benefits of the Most High, and those which I have done for them and continue to do for them, and that they esteem them so little. Such people trample the pearls with their feet and do not distinguish between the bread that belongs to the children of God and the food of irrational animals. The heavenly and divine things seem to them to be distasteful and contrary to their tastes, who are utterly corrupted by sensual pleasures, and thus become incapable of understanding supersensible things, and of tasting the knowledge of life and the bread of discernment which is in them.