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God's Love
& Kindness
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God (Topic Page)
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"You
are God, you are Father, you are Spirit, and you are also love.
Never, never will I tire of calling you with this name of
love." (St. Maria Maddalena de' Pazzi)
"The
gratuitous love of God is the answer to all questions." (Pope John
Paul II)
"He
holds them all, even those who are weak and ailing, in His most loving
Heart." (Pope Pius XII, "Mystici Corporis Christi", 1943)
"I
love God, I am loved by God" (St. Ignatius of Loyola)
"[T]o
the mind of [St.] Augustine the history of human society is nothing else
than a portrayal of the uninterrupted outpouring of God's love upon
us." (Pope Pius XI, "Ad Salutem", 1930)
"When
God sees us coming to him in prayer, he leans his Heart down very
low to his little creature, like a father who bends down to listen
to his child when it speaks to him." (St. John Vianney)
"Adore
the infinite charity of God, who deigns to save men,
notwithstanding their unworthiness and ingratitude." (St.
Ignatius Loyola)
"He
loves, He hopes, He waits. Our Lord prefers to wait Himself for
the sinner for years rather than to keep us waiting an
instant." (St. Maria Goretti)
"We
must marvel at the love of the Father who, in order to ransom a slave,
sacrificed his Son"
"How
wondrously considerate of us is God's pity! How priceless a love of
charity which would sacrifice a Son to redeem a slave!" (Pope
Gregory IX, Mira Circa Nos, 1228)
"God's
love for us is freely given and unearned, surpassing all we could ever
hope for or imagine. His love for us does not depend on whether we have
merited or are worthy of it." (Pope John Paul II)
"God
loves each of us as if there were only one of us." (St.
Augustine, Doctor of the Church)
"God
is love, St. John affirms (1 Jn. 4:8). Everything that exists is a
reflection of the free love of God, and therefore every creature
expresses in some way its infinite splendor." (Pope John Paul II)
"So
great is the impetus of the river of God's goodness overflowing on
mankind, that only the free will of man, which He has given to him
in order to receive its benefits, can raise a dam against it; and
whenever, through this free will, man resists the influence and
force of the divine Goodness, he (according to thy mode of
understanding), violates and grieves this immense love to its very
essence. But if creatures would place no obstacle and permit its operations, the whole soul
would be inundated and satiated with
participation in its divine essence and attributes." (Ven. Mary of
Agreda)
"We
will call God our charity, not only because we receive it from the
Lord, and because He communicates it to us, but because He himself
is essential charity, and the overflow of this divine perfection,
which we represent to ourselves as a form and attribute of his
Divinity, redounds in our souls, transforming it more perfectly
and abundantly than any other virtue." (Ven. Mary of Agreda)
"For
I know that my God is not merely bounteous Bestower of my life,
the generous Provider for all my needs, the pitiful Consoler of
all my sorrows, the wise Guide of my course: but that he is far
more than that. He saves me with an abundant deliverance: he is my
eternal Preserver, the portion of my inheritance, my glory."
(St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Doctor of the Church)
"O
my God, Thy people know Thee not! Oh, if they only knew Thee, Thou
wouldst be loved still more. If they knew Thy Wisdom, Thy
omnipotence, Thy goodness, Thy beauty, and all Thy divine
attributes, all Thy people would be as the seraphim, afire with
divine love." (St. Anthony Mary Claret)
"Even
though all human hearts were inflamed with the burning love of the
Seraphim and were to beat with love for God until the End of Time, what
would He gain thereby? His happiness and perfection are and remain
infinite; they can be neither augmented nor lessened, neither creatures
honor or dishonor, love or hate Him. Thus, God's love for man is the
purest, the most disinterested love, a love excluding all selfishness
and all self-interest. Jesus has indeed given to men unspeakable proofs
of His love, but what does He receive in return? Alas, from the greater
number, only ingratitude; from a few, a true, sincere love!" (Fr.
Etlin)
"For
God is easily appeased, and desires to aid men, having promised openly
to give His grace in abundance to those who ask for it. Nay, He even
invites men to ask, and almost insists with most loving words: 'I say
unto you, ask and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find:
knock, and it shall be opened to you.' And that we should have no fear
in doing this with confidence and familiarity, he softens His words,
comparing Himself to a most loving father who desires nothing so much as
the love of his children. 'If you then being evil, know how to give good
gifts to your children: how much more will your Father who is in heaven,
give good things to them that ask Him?'" (Pope Leo XIII, "Exeunte
Iam Anno", 1888)
"Nor
should it be omitted that God has preeminently displayed His
clemency and the riches of His goodness in this, that while He
might have forced us to serve His glory without a reward, He has,
notwithstanding, deigned to identify His own glory with our
advantage, thus rendering what tends to His honor, conducive to
our interests." (Catechism of the Council of Trent)
"How
great is the Lord's indulgence! How great is His condescension and
abundant goodness toward us. Think of it: He has willed that we
call Him Father when we come before Him to pray, and to call
ourselves sons of God, even as Christ is the Son of God - a name
that none of us would dare to use in prayer unless He Himself had
allowed us to pray in that way!" (St. Cyprian of Carthage)
"At
the very moment Mary consented to become the Mother of God,
several miraculous events took place. The Holy Spirit formed from
the most pure blood of Mary's heart a little body which he
fashioned into a perfect living being: God created the most
perfect soul that ever could be created. Eternal Wisdom, the Son
of God, drew the body and soul into union with that person. Here
we have the great wonder of heaven and earth, the prodigious
excess of the love of God" (St. Louis de Montfort)
"A
lover is placed outside himself, and made to pass into the object of his
love, inasmuch as he wills good to the beloved; and works for that good
by his providence even as he works for his own. Hence Dionysius says (De
Divinis Nominibus iv,1): 'On behalf of the truth we must make bold to
say even this, that He Himself, the cause of all things, by His
abounding love and goodness, is placed outside Himself by His providence
for all existing things.'" (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the
Church and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")
"By
reason of this redemption we have received the Holy Ghost and have
been made worthy of the grace of God. As a consequence of this
gift we are the adopted sons of God, as the Apostle Paul wrote to
the Romans when he said: Ye have not received the spirit of
bondage again in fear, but you have received the spirit of
adoption of sons, whereby we cry: 'Abba, Father.' The force and
efficacy of this adoption are thus set forth by St. John: Behold
what manner of charity the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we
should be called, and should be the sons of God." (Catechism
of the Council of Trent)
"He
sent the very Designer and Creator of the universe Himself,
through whom He has made the heavens… But did He send Him, as
one might suppose, in despotism and fear and terror? Not so.
Rather, in gentleness and meekness He sent Him, as a king sending
a son. He sent Him as King, He sent Him as God, He sent Him to
men. He sent Him for saving and persuading, but not for
compelling. Compulsion, you see, is not an attribute of God."
(Letter to Diogenetus, circa 2nd century A.D.)
"How
much You have loved us, good Father, You that spared not Your only
Son, but delivered Him up for the sake of impious men! How You
loved us! For us, he decided not to cling to His equality with
You, but was made obedient even to death on the cross" (St.
Augustine, Doctor of the Church, circa 400 A.D.)
"God
loves us, such as we shall be by His gift, not such as we are by
our own merit" (St. Prosper)
"God
loves us so tenderly, that he not only desires, but is solicitous
about our welfare... Let us, then always throw ourselves into the
hands of God, who so ardently desires and so anxiously watches of
our eternal salvation. 'Casting all our care upon him; for he hath
care of you" (1 Pt. 5:7). He who, during life, casts himself
into the hands of God, shall lead a happy life and shall die a
holy death." (St. Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church)
"But
perhaps none of the holy prophets has expressed and revealed as clearly
and vividly as Osee the love with which God always watches over His
people. In writings of this prophet, who is outstanding among the minor
prophets for the sublimity of his concise language, God declares that
His love for the chosen people, combining justice and a holy anxiety, is
like the love of a merciful and loving father or of a husband whose
honor is offended. This love is not diminished or withdrawn in the face
of the perfidy or the horrible crimes of those who betray it. If it
inflicts just chastisements on the guilty, it is not for the purpose of
rejecting them or of abandoning them to themselves; but rather to bring
about the repentance and the purification of the unfaithful spouse and
ungrateful children, and to bind them once more to itself with renewed
and yet stronger bonds of love. 'Because Israel was a child, and I loved
him; and I called my son out of Egypt...And I was like a foster father
to Ephraim, and I carried them in my arms, and they knew not that I
healed them. I will draw them with the cords of Adam, with the bonds of
love...I will heal their wounds, I will love them; for My wrath is
turned away from them. I will be as a dew, Israel shall spring up as a
lily, and his root shall shoot forth as that of Libanus.'" (Pope
Pius XII, "Haurietis Aquas", 1956)
Also
See: God's
Love / Jesus Christ | Love
(Topical Scripture)
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