Flower of Devotion

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

“Men indulge in delusion and do great harm to their souls every day by allowing their will to be guided by the impressions of the various material objects they encounter, and then immediately neglecting good works without further thought. Things which inflame the senses immediately stir the passions and inclinations of the lower part of the human soul. Hence it follows that the actions of such men do not proceed from the sound judgment of reason, but from the powerful influence which the senses and passions and desires produce over man. And so many a person who has suffered some kind of injury immediately decides to take revenge, taking into account only the suffering left by the resentment. Another is ready to commit injustice at once, because he follows the desire to appropriate to himself the property of others whom he has seen. This is the way of many unhappy people who succumb to the lusts of the eyes, the lusts of the flesh and the pride of life; the threefold lure with which the world and Satan lay for them, and with which neither can give them anything else. As a result of this lack of thought and blindness, they regard darkness as light, bitterness as sweetness, deadly poison as the remedy of their passions, and blind ignorance as wisdom, for their wisdom is earthly and satanic (John 3:15).
Man ought to be very careful of this injurious delusion, and not to act in any thing according to what is subject to the senses and pleasures, but rather to consider always what he is to do, first of all with regard to the will of God, which alone should be the guide of all his thoughts and actions.