You wish me to tell you why and how God should be loved. My answer is that God himself is the reason he is to be loved.
Saint BernardRead
Christian, learn from Christ how you ought to love Christ. Learn a love that is tender, wise, strong; love with tenderness, not passion, wisdom, not foolishness, and strength, lest you become weary and turn away from the love of the Lord.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of loving Christ in a balanced and thoughtful manner.
Saint Bernard advises Christians to emulate Christ's love by nurturing a tender, wise, and strong affection. He cautions against allowing passion to overshadow intellect and strength, suggesting that a well-rounded love will prevent one from becoming weary or disillusioned in their faith.
Themes
LoveWisdomTendernessFaithStrength
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a sermon to illustrate how to approach one's relationship with God.
More from Saint Bernard
All quotes →God removes the sin of the one who makes humble confession, and thereby the devil loses the sovereignty he had gained over the human heart.
Saint BernardRead
Who is there that can adequately gauge the greatness of the humility, gentleness, self-surrender, revealed by the Lord of majesty in assuming human nature, in accepting the punishment of death, the shame of the cross?
Saint BernardRead
There is a daily discussion with our servants about the price of food and the number of loaves: a conference with our presbyters to consider the sins of our people is a very rare occurrence.
Saint BernardRead
Even the holy men who lived before the coming of Christ understood that God had in mind plans of peace for the human race.
Saint BernardRead
The mind must first reflect upon itself in order that it may frame a rule of Justice, and not be inclined to do to another what it would not have done to itself, nor refuse to another what it desires for itself. These two assuredly comprise the whole sphere of Justice.
Saint BernardRead
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