"Praise to God and compassion for creatures.
"It is the same movement of heart.
"But how is this possible, since the two are in obvious contradiction?
"To thank God because of his great glory, and to have pity for creatures because of their wretchedness.
"To have pity for Christ who was thirsty and hungry and tired.
"Thankfulness to God and compassion for every creature.
"Praise to God and pity for every creature.
"A creature cannot legitimately be the object of any love except compassion.
"Nor can God be the object of any love other than praise. . . .
"Compassion for every creature, because it is far from the Good. Infinitely far. Abandoned.
"God abandons our whole entire being — flesh, blood, sensibility, intelligence, love — to the pitiless necessity of matter and the cruelty of the devil, except for the eternal and supernatural part of the soul.
"The creation is an abandonment. In creating what is other than Himself, God necessarily abandoned it. He only keeps under his care the part of creation which is Himself — the uncreated part of every creature. That is the life, the Light, the Word; it is the presence here below of God's only Son.
"lt is sufficient if we consent to this ordering of things.
"How can this consent be united with compassion? How is it an act of unique love, when it seems irreconcilable with love?
"Wisdom, teach me this.
"God is absent from the world, except in the existence in this world of those in whom His love is alive. Therefore they ought to be present in the world through compassion. Their compassion is the visible presence of God here below.
"When we are lacking in compassion we make a violent separation between a creature and God.
"Through compassion we can put the created, temporal part of a creature in communication with God.
"It is a marvel analogous to the act of creation itself.
"The cruelty of the Jews and the Romans had so much power over Christ that it caused him to feel abandoned by God.
"Compassion is what spans this abyss which creation has opened between God and the creature.
"It is the rainbow.
"Compassion should have the same dimension as the act of creation. It cannot exclude a single creature.
"One should love oneself only with a compassionate love.
"Every created thing is an object for compassion because it is ephemeral.
"Every created thing is an object for compassion because it is limited.
"Compassion directed towards oneself is humility.
"Humility is the only permitted form of self-love.
"Praise for God, compassion for creatures, humility for oneself.
"Without humility, all the virtues are finite. Only humility makes them infinite."