The Dialogue

How God laments over His rational creatures, principally on account of the self-love which reigns in them; strengthening the above mentioned soul for greater efforts of prayer and tears.

THEN God, all inflamed with love for our salvation, took means to light up a greater love and a greater grief in that soul, showing, in the following way, with what love He had created man, of which something has been said above.

And He said : " Dost thou not see how every man persecutes Me, and yet I have created him with such a fire of love, and given him grace and mercy, infinite gifts, through My free grace and not of his own due. See then, My daughter, with how many and diverse sins they persecute Me, and especially with their miserable self-love, from which

56 THE DIALOGUE OF ST. CATHERINE

proceeds every evil. With this self-love, they have poisoned the whole world, for, just as the love of Me contains in itself every virtue brought forth upon their neighbour, as I have shown thee, so sensual self-love, since it proceeds from pride (and love of Me proceeds from charity), contains in itself every evil ; and these evils they perform by means of creatures, being separated and divided from love of their neighbour, since, not loving Me, they do not love him either; for these two loves are joined together, and therefore I said to thee above, that all good and all evil was done by means of the neighbour. I have therefore much to grieve over in man, who from Me has received nothing but good, and yet renders Me hatred, working every sort of iniquity. This I have said to thee, in order that, through the tears of My servants, I might mitigate My wrath. Therefore do you, My servants, prepare yourselves before Me with many prayers and anxious desires, and with grief for the sin which is done against Me and for the damnation of souls. And so will you mitigate the wrath of Divine Justice."