Sacrifice is an absolutely universal law for the perfecting of the creature. Everything which passes from a lower nature to a higher nature has to pass through self-sacrifice, mortification, and death. The mineral assimilated by the plant becomes living matter. The vegetable which is consumed is transformed in the animal into sensible living matter. The man who yields up his whole soul to God through the obedience of faith finds it again in glory. The angel who has renounced the natural light of his intelligence to plunge himself into the darkness of faith has found the splendour of divine light.
Raïssa Maritain (1883–1960)
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