.
.Love Beyond Measure
.
by Bernard of Clairvaux (1090 – 1153)

You wish me to tell you why and how God should be loved. My answer is that God himself is the reason why he is to be loved. As for how he is to be loved, there is to be no limit to that love... 

...There are two reasons why God should be loved for his own sake: no one can be loved more righteously and no one can be loved with greater benefit... My answer to both questions is assuredly the same, for I can see no other reason for loving him than himself. So let us see first how he deserves our love.

How God is to be loved for his own sake
God certainly deserves a lot from us since he gave himself to us when we deserved it least (Galatians 1:4). Besides, what could he have given us better than himself? Hence when seeking why God should be loved, if one asks what right he has to be loved, the answer is that the main reason for loving him is, “He loved us first” (1 John 4:9-10). Surely he is worthy of being loved in return when one thinks of who loves, whom he loves, how much he loves. Is it not he whom every spirit acknowledges (1 John 4:2)? … This divine love is sincere, for it is the love of one who does not seek his own advantage (1 Corinthians 13:5).

To whom is such love shown? It is written: “While we were still his enemies, he reconciled us to himself” (Romans 5:10). Thus God loved freely, and even his enemies. How much did he love? St. John answers that: “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son” (John 3:16). St Paul adds: “He did not spare his only Son, but delivered him up for us” (Romans 8:32). The Son also said of himself: “No one has greater love than he who lays down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

Thus the righteous one deserved to be loved by the wicked, the highest and omnipotent by the weak. Now someone says: “This is true for man, but it does not hold for the angels.” That is true because it was not necessary for the angels, for he who came to man’s help in time of need, kept the angels from such a need, and he who did not leave man in such a state because he loved him, out of an equal love gave the angels the grace not to fall into that state.

I think that they to whom this is clear see why God ought to be loved, that is, why he merits to be loved. If the infidels conceal these facts, God is always able to confound their ingratitude by his innumerable gifts which he manifestly places at man’s disposal. For, who else gives food to all who eat, sight to all who see, and air to all who breathe? It would be foolish to want to enumerate; what I have just said cannot be counted. It suffices to point out the chief ones: bread, sun, and air. I call them the chief gifts, not because they are better but because the body cannot live without them. Man’s nobler gifts – dignity, knowledge, and virtue – are found in the higher parts of his being, in his soul. Man’s dignity is his free will by which he is superior to the beasts and even dominates them. His knowledge is that by which he acknowledges that this dignity is in him, but that it is not of his own making. Virtue is that by which man seeks continuously and eagerly for his Maker and when he finds him, adheres to him with all his might. 

[Bernard of Clairvaux (1090 – 1153) was born of noble parentage. He became a Cistercian monk at the age of 22 and took with him thirty young men, including his brothers and uncles, to Citeaux Abbey in France. Three years later he founded a new monastery at Clairvaux. This abbey became a center of the Cistercian order and a source of spiritual renewal throughout Europe.]