Page VII

reviewed

that our world will be what it is, will it not be necessary, in order to console ourselves for living, to keep striving to believe that pain is not without reason? Will it not be necessary to listen, in our dreams if not in our struggles, to the deceptive and sublime word of the Master who said, as if it were the simplest thing, to the charmed crowd: "Blessed are the gentle, blessed are the poor, blessed are those who weep!"

Original French

que notre monde sera ce qu'il est, ne faudra-t-il pas, pour se consoler de vivre, continuer à s'efforcer de croire que la douleur n'est point sans motif ? Ne faudra-t-il pas écouter dans nos rêves, sinon dans nos luttes, la parole décevante et sublime du Maître qui disait, comme une chose toute simple, à la foule charmée : « Heureux les doux, heureux les pauvres, heureux ceux qui pleurent ! »

Notes. Final page of the Avant-propos — it completes the sentence carried over from page VI ("…Hélas ! tant que…") and closes with the Beatitudes. This leaf is missing from the physical copy; the page image and French text are from the Gallica / BnF scan (Source: gallica.bnf.fr / BnF). Awaiting English translation.