Quod amor perfectus nihil cum Deo permiscet, et quare, et quod amare necesse est, et de excecacione carnalis amoris

Quod amor perfectus nihil cum Deo permiscet, et quare, et quod amare necesse est, et de excecacione carnalis amoris

If we perfectly leave behind the filth of sins and the vices of the world, there's nothing we love except God. For what else do we see ourselves loving in our neighbor but God, when we want to love anything only for God and in God Himself? How could God be everything in everyone if there were anything left in a person that belonged to a foreign love? No one has joy except from the good they love. The more someone loves God, the more joy they'll find in Him; for whatever we desire intensely and fervently, we rejoice more deeply when we possess it. The joy that someone has comes from having God, and God is the joy that truly no one has who seeks anything apart from Him. If I desire anything for my own sake and do not set an end to my desire for God, it is clear that I have become a traitor to myself and an open display of hidden guilt. God truly wants to be loved in such a way that no one should mix their love with anything else. Because if you divide your heart and don't fear to love something else alongside Him, you can be sure that your love is abandoned by God, who does not deign to contemplate a part of love. Either it accepts everything or nothing, because it redeems the whole. Indeed, your body and soul were condemned in the sin of Adam, your father. Therefore, God descended into the womb of the Virgin and became man, giving the price for your liberation, so that He might not only rescue your soul from the power of demons, but also glorify both body and soul at the end of the age. You have the commandments of eternal life; if you want to enter the lost kingdom, which has been recovered again by the blood of Christ, you must observe the commandments of Christ. And just as you desire to ascend to full and perfect joy after your death, so you must remember in this life to love God with a full and perfect heart. Otherwise, if you don't devote yourself to the love of God now, then you won't have full joy but eternal torment later. Because while you don't direct your whole love toward your Creator, you will certainly find yourself loving God's creation beyond what is honorable and permissible. For a rational soul cannot exist without love, as long as it is on the way. Therefore, love is the foot that carries us, leading us after this pilgrimage either to God or to the devil, so that we may see ourselves subject to the one whose will we served here. Love for something can only exist for the sake of a good that is either present or apparent, and that which is loved is either inherent in it or is thought to be inherent. This is why those who love physical beauty or temporal wealth are often deceived as if by an illusion. For there is no delight in those visible things that are sensed by touch or seen by the eye, whether it be the pleasure that appears, or the glory that is imagined, or the fame that is sought. No one is more neglectful of their soul than the one who fixates their eye on a woman for the sake of lust. While the eyes see, they ignite the soul; soon, the thoughts from what is seen will enter in, generating desire in the heart and distorting the inner nature. Therefore, suddenly, the harmful fire is extinguished, so that it does not see the sentence of the strict judge. In the same way, the captivated mind, drawn away from the vision of heavenly love by unclean and wicked desires, never stops showing signs of its own damnation, and unless it gives birth to the impurity it has conceived, it utterly loses hope in its prosperity. Moreover, he has conceived a painful desire for carnal pleasure, from which he will justly give birth to iniquity, because he quickly sinks into a murky delight, as he wanders in great danger for his soul, yet does not attempt to seek help. Therefore, the judgments of God are taken away from His face. While one begins to delight in carnal desires, they do not notice the pit of misery into which they are falling. The judgment of God is this: whoever, willingly disregarding God, falls into mortal sin will be condemned against their will after this life, with God as the judge. For someone who is caught up in serious sin and refuses to turn away from it, even though they could, will not be able to defend themselves in the future from the jaws of hell.