Mater Dei reprehendit quendam spiritualem dicens, quod non confidat de aliqua virtute sua et caueat a multiloquio et risorio et a leuitate morum; item quod accepcius est Deo, quod homo iuste viuat in mundo de suo labore quam in heremo vel religione sine caritate Dei.
The Bitterness of Pride and Frivolity
The Mother of God warns that even great virtues are spoiled by sin, excessive speech, and a lack of interior discipline.
The Mother says: "Even the finest food loses its value if you pour something bitter into it." In the same way, no matter what virtues someone has, or how great they are, if they take pleasure in any sin, they don't please God. So tell that friend of mine that if he wants to please my Son and me, he shouldn't rely on any of his own virtues, even the smallest ones, but should restrain his tongue from all excessive talking and mockery, and keep his behavior from all frivolity. For he ought to carry flowers in his mouth, with which he might entice the tasteless toward the best fruit. If, however, any bitterness is found among the flowers, they lose their value, and the good fruit is no longer desired.
The Priority of Charity Over Form
God prefers a life of honest labor lived in love over a religious life pursued merely for comfort or convenience.
Also tell him that, just as a man and woman sometimes love each other only for the sake of physical support, and just as a monk sometimes stays in a monastery for the sake of physical comfort, so this man he knows wants to be in the monastery to avoid any hardship, and he also wants to be poor so that he won't lack anything. Let him be left to his own will, because it is more acceptable to God to live justly in the world and work with one's hands than to remain in a hermitage or religious life without the love of God.
Read the original Latin
Mater loquitur: "Vbi optimus est cibus, si infunditur in eo aliquid amaritudinis, vilescit. Sic, qualescumque et quantascumque virtutes aliquis habeat, si delectatur in aliquo peccato, non placet Deo.
Ideo dic illi amico meo, quod, si desiderat placere filio meo et michi, non confidat in virtute sua aliqua eciam minima sed compescat linguam suam ab omni multiloquio et risorio et prohibeat mores suos ab omni leuitate.
Nam ipse debet portare flores in ore, quibus alliciat insipidos ad fructum optimum. Si autem inter flores aliqua reperiuntur amara, vilescunt flores et fructus bonus non desideratur.
Item dic ei, quod, sicut vir et mulier quandoque diligunt se propter solam corporis sustentacionem et sicut monachus quandoque est in monasterio propter corporale bonum, sic ille homo, quem ipse nouit, desiderat esse in monasterio, vt nichil paciatur contrarium, desiderat quoque esse pauper, vt nichil tamen ei desit.
Ideo dimittatur proprie voluntati, quia Deo est accepcius in mundo iuste viuere et laborare manibus quam in heremo vel religione stare sine Dei caritate."
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