“Why should it be difficult for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven?” He is ready to look upon this as an arbitrary decree, arising from some prejudice in the divine mind. Why should the rich fare differently? They do not perceive that the law is they shall fare like other people, whereas they want to fare as rich people...

But it is not the rich man only who is under the dominion of things; they too are slaves who, having no money, are unhappy from the lack of it. The man who is ever digging his grave is little better than he who already lies moldering in it...

It is imperative to get rid of the tyranny of things. If you ask, “Will not Death ransom us from this tyranny? Therefore why hasten the hour?” I answer, only when a man begins to abstain, then first he recognizes the strength of his passion. 

No man who has not the Father so as to be eternally content in him alone, can possess a sunset or a mine of gold or the love of a fellow-creature according to its nature, as God would have him possess it. But he who has God, has all things.