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"A fruit of the earth belongs to some others, who are
covetous misers, acting like the mole, who always
feeds on earth till death, and when they arrive at
death they find no remedy.
"Such as these, with their meanness, despise My
generosity, selling time to their neighbor. They are
cruel usurers, and robbers of their neighbor; because
in their memory they have not the remembrance of My
mercy, for if they had it they would not be cruel to
themselves or to their neighbor; on the contrary,
they would be compassionate and merciful to
themselves, practicing the virtues on their neighbor
and succoring him charitably.
"Oh, how many are the evils that come of this cursed
sin of avarice, how many homicides and thefts, and
how much pillage with unlawful gain, and cruelty of
heart and injustice! It kills the soul and makes her
the slave of riches, so that she cares not to observe
My commandments.
"A miser loves no one except for his own profit.
Avarice proceeds from and feeds pride, the one
follows from the other, because the miser always
carries with him the thought of his own reputation,
and thus avarice, which is immediately combined with
pride, full of its own opinions, goes on from bad to
worse. It is a fire which always germinates the smoke
of vainglory and vanity of heart, and boasting in
that which does not belong to it.
"It is a root which has many branches, and the
principal one is that which makes a man care for his
own reputation, from whence proceeds his desire to be
greater than his neighbor. It also brings forth the
deceitful heart that is neither pure nor liberal, but
is double, making a man show one thing with his
tongue, while he has another in his heart, and making
him conceal the truth and tell lies for his own
profit. And it produces envy, which is a worm that is
always gnawing, and does not let the miser have any
happiness out of his own or others' good.
"How will these wicked ones in so wretched a state
give of their substance to the poor, when they rob
others? How will they draw their foul soul out of the
mire, when they themselves put it there? Sometimes
even do they become so brutish, that they do not
consider their children and relations, and cause them
to fall with them into great misery.
"And, nevertheless, in My mercy I sustain them, I do
not command the earth to swallow them up, that they
may repent of their sins. Would they then give their
life for the salvation of souls, when they will not
give their substance? Would they give their
affections when they are gnawed with envy?
"Oh, miserable vices that destroy the heaven of the
soul. Heaven I call her (the soul) because so I made
her, living in her at first by grace, and hiding
Myself within her, and making of her a mansion
through affection of love. Now she has separated
herself from Me, like an adulteress, loving herself,
and creatures more than Me, and has made a god of
herself, persecuting Me with many and diverse sins.
"And this she does because she does not consider the
benefit of the Blood that was shed with so great Fire
of Love."
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