Love for one's neighbor is a love that descends from God to man. It precedes the love that ascends from man to God. God hastens to descend to the unhappy. As soon as any soul consents to this, even if it is the most wretched, miserable, or ugly soul, God hastens to descend into it, so that through it He may listen to and see the unhappy. In time, this soul will realize His presence. But even if it cannot name Him, wherever unhappy people are loved for themselves, God is present.
(Simone Weil /1909–1943/, Waiting for God)
