Verba Matris ad filiam, qualiter bona temporalia discrete possessa non nocent, nisi affectus possidendi fuerit inordinatus.
Possessing Without Attachment
Temporal goods are not inherently harmful, provided the heart remains detached and the intention pure.
The Mother says: "What harm is it if someone is pricked by a needle or iron through their cloak, as long as the flesh isn't wounded?" In the same way, temporal goods don't cause harm when you possess them with discretion, unless your desire to have them becomes disordered. Therefore, watch over your heart so that your intention remains good, because God's words must be spread to others through you.
The Sluice of the Heart
The soul must act as a gatekeeper, allowing worldly thoughts to flow away while holding fast to divine wisdom.
For just as a millpond’s sluice holds back the water and lets it flow again whenever it’s needed, so you must carefully watch over the various thoughts and temptations that come your way, so that whatever is vain and worldly may be let go. But keep the things of God constantly in your mind, just as it is written: the lower waters flowed away, but the upper waters stood like a wall. The lower waters are the thoughts of the flesh and useless desires, which ought to flow away and not be given any attention. The higher waters, however, are the infusions of God and the words of the saints, which should remain stable in your heart like a wall, so that no temptations can tear them away from you.
Read the original Latin
Mater loquitur: "Quid nocet, si quis acu vel ferro pungitur in pallio, dummodo non leditur caro? Sic nec temporalia bona discrete possessa nocent, nisi affectus possidendi fuerit inordinatus. Ideo obserua cor tuum, ut intencio bona sit, quia per te verba Dei diffundi debent in alios.
Nam sicut retentaculum aque molendinarie retinet aquam et iterum discurrere facit, quociens expedit, sic tu influentibus cogitacionibus variis et temptacionibus sollicite obseruare debes, ut que vana sunt et secularia dimittantur,
que vero diuina sunt continue rememorentur, sicut scriptum est, quod aque inferiores defluebant, superiores vero stabant quasi murus.
Aque inferiores sunt cogitaciones carnis et cupiditates inutiles, que defluere debent et non attendi. Superiores vero aque sunt infusiones Dei et verba sanctorum, que stabiles sint in corde sicut murus, ut nullis temptacionibus a corde diuellantur."
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