The Dialogue

How worldly men cannot be satisfied with their possessions ; and of the suffering their perverse will causes them even in this life.

" I TOLD thee, above, that the will alone is the cause of man's pain, and because My servants are deprived of their own will, and clothed with Mine, they do not feel afflicting pain, but are satisfied, feeling Me by grace in their souls, and if they possessed the whole world without Me they could not be satisfied, because the things created are less than man — for they are made for man, and not man for them — and therefore can he not be satisfied by them, but by Me alone. Wherefore these miserable ones in great blindness are always striving and are never satisfied, desiring that which they cannot have, because they do not ask of Me, Who alone can satisfy. Wilt thou that I tell thee what their pain is ? Thou knowest that love always gives pain, when that thing to which the soul has become conformed is lost. These have become conformed to the earth, through love, in diverse ways, wherefore earth they have become ; some are con formed to riches, some to worldly rank, some to their children, some lose Me by serving creatures, some make of their body a brute beast through their great filthiness, and so, in various ways, they desire and feed themselves on earth,

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and they would that things were lasting, but they are not, but pass like the wind ; for either they fail them at the moment of death, or else they are deprived of what they love by My dispensation. And, being deprived, they suffer intolerable pain, and their loss causes them as much grief as they had disordinate love when they possessed them. Had they held them as things lent to them, and not as their own, they would leave them without pain. They have pain then, because they have not what they desire. Because, as I told thee, the world cannot satisfy them, and, being un satisfied, they suffer. How great is the pain of the prick of conscience ! How great is his pain who thirsts for revenge, which pain continually gnaws him and causes him to die, before he has killed his enemy with the knife of hatred ! How much pain the miser endures, who through avarice cuts down his needs ! How much torment the envious man endures, for envy always gnaws his heart, and does not allow him to take delight in the well-being of his neighbour ! From everything, which a man loves sensually, he draws pain with many disordinate fears. Wherefore, such as these have taken the cross of the Devil, tasting the earnest money of Hell, on which they live in this life, with many and diverse sicknesses, and if they do not correct themselves they will afterwards receive eternal death.

" These are injured by the thorns of many tribulations, torturing themselves with their own disordinate will, who carry the cross in heart and in body, that is, with pain and torment, the soul and the body pass their time without any merit, because they bear not their labours with patience, but rather with impatience. And, because they have possessed and acquired the gold of the delights of the world with disordinate love, being deprived of the life of grace, and of the affection of charity, they have become trees of death. And, therefore, all their works are dead, and with pain they go through the river, being drowned, and arrive at the water of death, passing with hatred through the gate of the Devil, and receive eternal damnation. Now thou hast seen how they deceive themselves, and with how much pain they go to Hell, making themselves martyrs of the Devil. And thou

no THE DIALOGUE OF ST. CATHERINE

hast seen what it is that blinds them, namely the cloud of self-love, hiding the pupil of the light of faith. And thou hast seen how the tribulations of the world, from whatever side they come, injure My servants corporally, but not mentally, because they, being conformed to My will, are contented to suffer pain for Me. But the servants of the world are hurt within and without, and particularly within, by fear, that is, fear of losing that which they possess, and by love, that is, the desire for that which they cannot have. All the other suffering which proceeds from these two principal causes, thy tongue is not sufficient to relate.

"Thou seest, then, that, even in this life, the righteous have a better bargain than the sinners, and thou hast fully seen how they walk and what is their end."