XXXVII. Qualia sunt ornamenta coelestium gaudiorum.

XXXVII. Qualia sunt ornamenta coelestium gaudiorum.

But the ornaments of those joys are spiritual, eternal, and inestimable; and likewise, it’s not that gold and stones and gems of earthly dust exist in the eternity of heaven, but that the elect are spiritually adorned by good and just works, just as a person is outwardly decorated with precious ornaments. For I am the creator of the world, and I have given man the ability to work with the knowledge I have instilled in him, so that he may carry out his tasks through the earth and water, through air and fire, from which he is made, and perfect his works. Therefore, when someone does good, they prepare for themselves ornaments from their good works in the clarity of unending light; just as the firmament is adorned with the stars, and the earth is adorned with flowers for a time. For when a person is sometimes adorned with earthly decorations, their soul also occasionally groans, remembering how it should be beautified by its own works. But just as a person creates ornaments for themselves through fire and air, and through water and earth, and prepares clothing as they please according to their body, so too does God prepare ornaments according to the works of the saints, which come from no other material than what He makes through Himself, just as He created all creatures through Himself, just as a person directs and works their own actions through no other creature than through themselves.