A Summary

I CONFESS that God deserves to be greatly loved, or rather that He should be loved beyond measure. He was the first to love ; He so great, we so little ; He loves us to excess, just as we are, and without any claim whatsoever on our side. This is why the rightful measure of our love to God is to exceed all measure ; for God, the object of our love, being infinite, how can we weigh or measure what we owe to Him in love ? Moreover, our love is not a free offering ; it is the payment of a debt. And, besides, as it is the I Am, eternal and immense, the Divine Love, God, whose greatness has no limits nor His wisdom bounds, who is the “ Peace which passeth all understanding ;” as, I say, it is such a God who loves us, is it possible for us to say we will love Him so much and no more ? “I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength and my defence, my refuge and my salvation,” who art to me all that my soul needs, and all that my heart desires. My God and my Help, I will love Thee with all my strength ; not according to what Thou deservest, but according to my little capacity. I will love Thee more when Thou hast given me more power of loving ; but never, never as Thou shouldst be loved. Thine eyes see my foolishness, my inability ; but I know that Thou writest in Thy book those who do what they can, even when they cannot do what they ought. Have I not said enough to prove how God should be loved, and by what gifts He has merited our love? I merely name His gifts, because the excellence of them who can express, who can under stand, who can feel ?