The life of a Christian, the saint observes poetically, happens on earth like the majestic rainbow spreads itself from one point to another in the sky. There are various colours in the rainbow, but fire red and pale blue are predominant.

Similarly, the life of a good Christian is coloured by virtues that are covered and illuminated by the sparkling love of God and love for one's neighbour.

Love must accompany all of the virtues, since, notes Saint Anthony with domestic images, "as the table is poor and unadorned without bread, so are the virtues without love."

This is the intuition that has always accompanied the great saints, from Saint Paul to Saint Theresa of Lisieux, who John Paul II proclaimed Doctor of the Church, to Saint Anthony, "I understood that the Church had a Heart and that this Heart was lit by Love. I understood that only Love made the members of the Church act [ . . . ] I understood that Love closes in itself all the Vocations, that Love was everything."