I said: “metaphorical tree”. Now I will say: “symbolic tree”. Perhaps you will understand better. Its symbol is clear: the inclination to good and to evil of the two children of God would be understood by their behaviour towards the tree. Like ‘aqua regia’ that tests gold and the scales of the goldsmith that weigh its carats, that tree, by God’s command, became a means of testing and it gave the measure of Adam’s and Eve’s symbolic metal purity.
17.17 I can already hear your objection: “Was the punishment not excessive and the means used to condemn them not childish?”
Not so. Actual disobedience in you, who are their heirs, is not so grave as if it were in them. You have been redeemed by Me. But Satan’s poison is always ready to rise again, like certain diseases that never disappear completely in the blood. The First Parents possessed Grace without ever even nearing Disgrace. They were therefore stronger and more firmly supported by Grace that generated love and innocence. The gift given them by God was infinite. Much graver is therefore their fall notwithstanding that gift.
17.18 Also the fruit that was offered and eaten was symbolic. It was the fruit of an experience they wanted to have at Satan’s instigation to break God’s command. I had not forbidden men love. I only wanted them to love each other without malice; as I loved them in My holiness, they were to love each other in the holiness of affections unsoiled by lewdness.
17.19 It must not be forgotten that Grace is light, and whoever possesses it knows what is good and useful to know. Mary, Full of Grace, knew everything, because Wisdom taught Her, Wisdom that is Grace, and She knew how to live in a holy way. Also Eve knew what was good for her to know. But not more, because it is useless to know what is not good. But she did not have faith in God’s word, and was not faithful to her promise of obedience. She believed in Satan, she broke her promise, she wanted to know what was not good, she loved it without regret, she turned love into something corrupt and degraded, which I instead had permitted as something holy. A sullied angel, she wallowed in mud and litter, whereas she could have run happily amongst the flowers of the earthly Paradise and she could have seen her offspring flourish around her, like a plant that is covered with flowers without bending its leaves into the mire.