The Marian Garden: Ancient and New

18. He, therefore, who desires to be inflamed by divine love should study with the greatest diligence possible the purity of the mind and keep himself unblemished from the smallest stain of the soul. For he who intends to spend his soul on the love of God must make room for God, namely, by emptying himself of all worldly and self-love, because adhering to the flour of Egypt, he will not taste the celestial Manna. There is a great difference between Divine love and self-love, and they fight cruelly among themselves. Therefore, he who wants one must repel the other. Love is as strong as death. Just as death separates the soul from the body, so the love of God separates a man from self-love, and self-love from the love of God. Do the will of God, and not your own, and then you will love Him; and beware of offending the beloved, according to that: If you have hated well, you will have loved well.