Love of God
According to Saint Bonaventure, the love of God is the source of all good, the goal of every desire, the life of every soul.
God's love is manifested in creation, redemption, sanctification and glorification.
God's love is communicated to man through grace, the sacraments, the Word and the Holy Spirit.
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Up to this point, as God inspired me, I have taught you, O servant of the Lord, how you must train your mind to climb from step to step and progress in every virtue. Now it remains to say of all the virtues, of charity, which alone leads man to perfection. If you think of mortifying vices, to proceed in grace, in reaching absolute perfection, you cannot think of anything more useful than charity.
So Prospero says in the book contemplative life: «Charity is the life of virtues and the death of vices. Just as wax melts in the face of fire, so vices disappear in the face of charity. Charity has so much strength that it alone closes hell, opens paradise, alone gives the hope of health, alone makes us grateful to God. It is of such value that among others it is called the virtue par excellence; which whoever has it is rich, wealthy and blessed, whoever does not have it is poor, beggarly and unhappy.
Watch into these words to the Corinthians; If I do not have charity, I am nothing, the Glossa explains: "Think how high charity is: if it is missing, the other virtues are useless, while it is there, they are all there and whoever begins to have it has the Holy Spirit". And Saint Augustine says: "If virtue must lead to a blessed life, I affirm and say that virtue is a vain name, except the supreme love of God"
If charity has such value, we must try to possess it in preference to all the other virtues; because it is not just any charity, but it is the only one through which one loves God above all things and one's neighbor for the love of God.
Your Husband himself tells you in the Gospel how you should love your Creator: You will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Understand well, O most beloved servant of Jesus Christ, what love your beloved Jesus wants from you. He wants you to give all your heart, all your soul and all your mind to his love, so that in all your heart, in all your soul and in all your mind no one else possesses even a small part with him.
So what will you do to confidently love the Lord your God with all your heart?
Listen to Saint John Chrysostom. He teaches you: "Loving God with all your heart means that your heart is not set on loving someone more than God; that nothing delights you more than God, not worldly beauties, not honors, not even your loved ones. If in any of these things you will put your mind and heart, behold you do not love God with all your heart", I adjure you, o handmaid of Christ, do not deceive yourself in matters of love. Be sure that you no longer love God with all your heart if you love something else not in him and for him.
If therefore you love something, and because of this love you do not make progress in the love of God, you no longer love God with all your heart. And if you love something, and for the sake of this thing you neglect your duties and the cause of Christ, you no longer love God with all your heart. Therefore truly love the Lord your God with all your heart.
But it's not enough wholeheartedly. We must love the Lord Jesus Christ with all our soul.
And how? — Listen to Saint Augustine who teaches you: Loving God with all your soul means loving him with all your will without contradiction.
Certainly then you love God with all your soul, when you do willingly and without any opposition, not what you want, not what the world recommends, not what your senses suggest, but what you know God wants.
Most certainly, then, you love God with all your soul, when for love of him you even expose yourself to death, if necessary. But if, on the contrary, you have been negligent in some of these things, then no, you do not love with all your soul. Go therefore, love the Lord your God with all your soul, that is, conform your will to the divine will in everything.
And not only with all your heart and with all your soul, but also with all your mind, love your husband Jesus the Lord.
How about with the whole mind? Listen again to Saint Augustine who teaches you about it by saying: "Loving God with all your mind means loving him with all your memory without ever forgetting him".
