God’s Gifts Tell Of His Love

When St Mary Magdalen de Pazzi held a beautiful flower in her hand, she was inflamed by it with the love of God in the same way: and she said: “From this I know that my Lord has thought of me from eternity, for he has created this flower for love of me!” So that flower became to her a gentle dart of love which pierced her heart, only to unite it more closely to God. St Teresa tells us that as often as she came upon a beautiful scene, and her gaze ranged over the mountains, the brooks, the trees, the meadows and the stretches of the sea; that all these beautiful creatures served to remind her of how ungrateful she was, in returning so little love to the Creator, who had made them all for her and for her love. Something similar is narrated of a certain holy hermit: it seemed to him that the planets and the flowers, that he met as he went along his way through the country, rebuked him for being so ungrateful to God; and he gently struck them with his cane as he said : "Hold your peace, be silent: you are telling me how ungrateful I am, because you are telling me God has created you for my love, and that I do not love Hi, in return." (Translator's note: it is thought that the solitary, here mentioned, was St. Paul of the Cross.)