Voluntary Poverty

328. If rejoicing in riches can be made in any way endurable, it is when men spend and use them in the service of God ; there is no other way of making them profitable : the same principle applies to all other temporal goods, titles, rank and office.

329. The spiritual man must be very careful of the beginnings of joy in temporal things, lest from little it should become great, increasing step by step; out of slight beginnings great evils result. One spark is enough to set a mountain on fire.

330. However small an attachment may be, be not too confident that you can cut it off at any time ; cut it off at once : for if you have not the courage to destroy it when it is but beginning, how can you presume upon success when it has taken root and grown ?

331. He who turns aside from what is little, will not stumble over what is large. Little matters cause great evils, because the fences and walls of the heart are broken down when they enter in ; for the proverb says : he who has begun his work has accomplished the half of it.

33 2- J°Y darkens the judgment as a cloud, for there can be no rejoicing in created things without the attachment of the will. The negation and purgation of this joy leave the judgment clear as the sky when the mist has been scattered.

333. He who is detached is not molested when he prays, nor at any other time, and so without wasting his time he gains with ease great spiritual treasures.