Of all the virtues, none has made the saints speak so much as charity. They praised it, begged for it, lived by it, and died for it. Where the theologian defines and distinguishes, the saint burns: he does not speak of the love of God as an observer, but as a lover. This article gathers their words — a florilegium of the great voices of Catholic tradition on charity, arranged not by author but by facets of love: why God must be loved above all, how to respond, how to prove love, and why charity alone remains forever.
Here one hears Scripture and the Fathers, doctors and mystics, desert monks and twentieth-century religious sisters. Their accents differ, but the same conviction runs through them all: charity is neither emotion nor philanthropy; it is God himself poured into the human heart (Rom 5:5), and our life has no other purpose than to respond to him.
This article is an anthology, not a manual. For the practical path — the nature of charity, its degrees according to Saint Thomas, the concrete means of making it grow, and the pitfalls to avoid — see the twin article How to grow in charity. For concrete works toward the poor, see How to grow in almsgiving; for the Church's charitable action throughout history, see The charity of the Catholic Church.
"The greatest of these": why the saints always return to charity
If the saints constantly return to charity, it is because they know what Scripture proclaims: of all the virtues, it is the one God places at the summit, and the only one that will not pass away. Saint Paul, at the end of his hymn to love, settles the question with a decisive word:
"So faith, hope, and charity abide, these three; but the greatest of these is charity." — Saint Paul, First Letter to the Corinthians 13:13[1]
Faith and hope will cease with this life: in Heaven, we shall no longer believe, we shall see; we shall no longer hope, we shall possess. Charity alone crosses the threshold of death without interruption — it is already, on earth, a beginning of Heaven. This is why the saints are convinced that the measure of holiness is the measure of charity, and nothing else. The author of the Imitation of Christ states it with stark simplicity:
"He is truly great who has great charity. He is truly great who is little in his own eyes, and for whom the highest glory is pure nothingness." — Imitation of Christ, Book I, ch. III[2]
Saint Augustine, contemplating the end of the whole Christian life, likewise brings everything back to love: it is both the road and the goal, that toward which we run and that in which we finally rest.
"The fulfillment of all our works is Love. There is the end; it is to obtain it that we run, toward it that we run; once we have arrived, in it we shall rest." — Saint Augustine, Tractates on the First Epistle of John, X, 4[3]
"God loved us first": charity is first a response
The saints' first word on charity is never a commandment, but gratitude: before asking us to love, God has loved. The whole spiritual life unfolds from this priority — "God loved us first" (1 Jn 4:19). Father Jean du Coeur de Jesus d'Elbee, commenting on Saint Therese's "little way," makes it the key to all Christianity:
"God loved us first so that we might love him. That is the explanation of everything: Creation, the Incarnation, Calvary, the Resurrection, the Eucharist." — Father Jean du Coeur de Jesus d'Elbee, I Believe in Love[4]
Returning love for Love
Since love comes first from God, human charity is essentially a response — not an effort to deserve being loved, but the return of a gift already received. This is d'Elbee's central formula, which sums up his whole spirituality:
"If you have been loved in this way, you must love in your turn, return love for Love." — Father d'Elbee, I Believe in Love[5]
And since God placed no limit on his love, he expects from us a response measured by his own:
"I have loved you, you shall love; I have given you my heart without reserve, in order to have your heart without reserve; I have put no limit to my Love, you must put no limit to yours." — Jesus, as reported by Father d'Elbee, I Believe in Love[6]
The God who "begs for love"
The most striking image in this section is common to several mystics: that of a God who, needing nothing, nevertheless makes himself a beggar for the love of his creatures. To the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, Jesus describes himself as a poor man stretching out his hand, asking only for the beats of a heart he himself has given:
"To keep this Love that has come out from Me and with which I have filled her, I remain near her like a poor beggar." — Jesus to the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, The Book of Heaven, volume 11, February 26, 1912[7]
And elsewhere, the same image returns, more pressing still:
"See, my children, the little Beggar that I am, who does nothing but ask for your hearts. Can you not understand that this way of acting is dictated to Me by the excesses of my Love?" — Jesus to the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, The Book of Heaven, volume 1, no. 113[8]
The same divine thirst runs through the confidences given to Sister Josefa Menendez, where love not returned becomes a real sorrow of the Heart of Christ:
"It is not you, Josefa. It is the coldness of souls who do not correspond to my Love. If you knew my sorrow at loving and not being loved!" — Jesus to Sister Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love[9]
Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, at seventeen, already said the same thing in her own way, begging that nothing be refused to a God who, by love, has made himself poor:
"Ah! let us refuse him nothing; he has such need of love and is so thirsty that he awaits from us the drop of water that will refresh him! Ah! let us give without counting." — Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, Letter 107[10]
The Cure of Ars turned the argument toward ingratitude: to be miserly with one's love toward a God who has given himself entirely would be an inexcusable avarice of the heart.
"What ingratitude it would be to be miserly toward a God who is so lavish! Has he not given all his blood for us on the cross? Does he not give himself wholly to us in the Holy Eucharist?" — Saint John Vianney, the Cure of Ars[11]
Loving God above all: fire, preference, and measurelessness
The saints never conceive the love of God as one affection among the others in life: it is first, exclusive, and boundless. Three words return in their writings — preference, fire, and measurelessness.
"Prefer nothing to the love of Christ"
The rule is already set at the origins of monasticism. Saint Benedict, in the chapter on the "tools of good works," inscribes this principle that governs the whole life of the monk — and, after him, of every Christian:
"Prefer nothing to the love of Christ." — Saint Benedict of Nursia, Rule, ch. 4[12]
To love God above all is, very concretely, to choose him when another attraction presents itself. Father d'Elbee puts this choice into words for the hours of temptation, when God seems distant and evil very near:
"Jesus, you whom I have never seen, never heard, who sometimes seem so far away, you who are truly a hidden God, while the attraction of what you reprove is so strong and the forbidden fruit so close, Jesus, it is you whom I choose, you whom I prefer, you whom I love." — Father d'Elbee, I Believe in Love[13]
This heart that prefers God must, the saints say, be wholly aflame. The poor mendicant Saint Benedict Joseph Labre, who lived on alms along the roads, brought the whole Christian life back to this interior fire:
"Our heart must be all fire toward God, and make us think continually of God, speak habitually of God, act constantly for God." — Saint Benedict Joseph Labre[14]
Loving without measure
The consequence is that the love of God admits no calculation. The most famous saying is Saint Bernard of Clairvaux's, who, in his treatise On Loving God, answers the question "how far must God be loved?" with a formula that became proverbial:
"The reason for loving God is God; the measure is to love him without measure." — Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, On Loving God, ch. I[15]
To Sister Josefa, Christ repeats the same demand for a heart that keeps nothing back:
"What I want is that you love Me and be faithful to Me. [...] Love Me without measure." — Jesus to Sister Josefa Menendez, The Way of Divine Love[16]
Saint Bernard also explains why God thus asks for all love: not from need, but because love itself is the happiness of the one who loves.
"When God loves, he asks for nothing other than to be loved, because he loves only in order to be loved, knowing that those who love him will become blessed by that very love." — Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons on the Song of Songs, sermon 83[17]
Loving neighbor for the love of God
For the saints, love of God and love of neighbor are not two charities, but one: one cannot claim to love the God one does not see if one does not love the brother one does see (1 Jn 4:20). But they insist: this love of neighbor is not measured by feelings — it is proved.
Love proved in deeds
The spiritual tradition distinguishes affective love (feelings) from effective love (deeds). Saint Vincent de Paul, who organized charity on a vast scale, hammered this home to his missionaries in a phrase that has remained famous:
"Let us love God, my brothers, let us love God, but let it be at the expense of our arms, let it be by the sweat of our faces." — Saint Vincent de Paul, Conferences to the Priests of the Mission[18]
The Apostle Saint John already said it, and Saint Brother Andre, the humble porter of Montreal, repeated it in his own way — inviting us to love Jesus in deeds, openly, as he himself loved us[19]:
"Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth." — Saint John, First Letter 3:18[20]
This demand for deeds applies first to the poor. Saint John Chrysostom, a formidable preacher of concrete charity, refused any devotion that paid itself in words while despising the destitute brother:
"Let us not think that it is enough for our salvation, after having stripped widows and orphans, to offer on the altar a golden chalice set with precious stones. If you want to honor the sacrifice, offer the soul for whom he sacrificed himself." — Saint John Chrysostom[21]
"If my faithful were good to one another"
The closest neighbor is often the hardest one: the person daily life places beside us. Several mystics heard Christ lament the lack of ordinary kindness among Christians — and promise that simple fraternal charity would change the world:
"If my faithful were good to one another, the face of the world would be changed." — Jesus to Gabrielle Bossis, He and I[22]
This love extends even to the enemy, the distinctive sign of the children of God. The Catechism gathers this evangelical doctrine: Christian charity knows no boundaries and goes so far as to love those who hate us (Mt 5:44; Lk 6:27-28). There, the saints say, love ceases to be natural and becomes properly supernatural — proof that it comes from God and not from our heart alone[23].
Charity in little things: "a thousand nothings" and great love
One of the most fruitful discoveries of modern spirituality is that charity is proved not chiefly in heroic acts, but in the fidelity of little things offered out of love. This is the heart of Saint Therese of Lisieux's "little way," received by Blessed Dina Belanger:
"Jesus desires souls [...] who offer him all the little nothings that his goodness sows at every instant throughout a day, those thousand trifles which, perfumed by pure love, are like a sparkling sheaf of a thousand immaculate roses." — Jesus to Blessed Dina Belanger[24]
The continual act of love
For Venerable Sister Consolata Betrone, the Capuchin of Turin, this charity of everyday life takes the form of an unceasing act of love — a short word of love repeated through the hours, already containing all the virtues:
"Jesus expects neither chains, nor discipline, nor additional penance, but love alone. Yes, one continual act of love! That is enough: when one practices love, one practices all the virtues." — Venerable Sister Consolata Betrone, Jesus Speaks to the World[25]
Saint Teresa of Calcutta, closer to our own time, summarized this spirituality of the small loving act in a formula that became universal: we cannot all accomplish great things, but we can do small things with great love[26].
And this whole logic of "little nothings" finds its guarantee in Saint John of the Cross: what will be weighed at the end is not the greatness of the works, but the love that carried them — the point to which the last part of this article will return.
"Love, and do what you will": charity, soul of all virtues
Why is charity "the greatest"? Because it is not added to the other virtues as one more virtue among them: it animates them all from within. Saint Augustine said this in a formula as bold as it is famous — often misunderstood, but clear once heard rightly: one who truly loves can only will the good.
"Love, and do what you will." — Saint Augustine, Tractates on the First Epistle of John, VII, 8[27]
Saint Alphonsus Liguori draws the consequence: the love of God brings with it the whole procession of the virtues, because to love God is already to will everything he wills.
"He who loves God is humble, chaste, obedient, mortified. In short, he has all the virtues." — Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Preparation for Death[28]
This is exactly what theology, since Saint Thomas Aquinas, calls charity the "form of the virtues" (forma virtutum): it is what orders all the acts of the other virtues to their final end, which is God. The Angelic Doctor even gave it its simplest name: a friendship — that of man for God.
"Charity is a friendship of man for God." — Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae, q. 23, a. 1[29]
Without it, the greatest works remain empty — Saint Paul had placed this at the beginning of his hymn:
"If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing." — Saint Paul, First Letter to the Corinthians 13:3[30]
The author of the Imitation describes the portrait of the person who possesses this perfect charity: a heart entirely dispossessed, seeking nothing for itself and referring everything to God.
"He who possesses true and perfect charity seeks himself in nothing; his only desire is that the glory of God be accomplished in all things. [...] Oh! if anyone had one spark of true charity, how vain all earthly things would appear to him!" — Imitation of Christ, Book I, ch. XV[31]
Charity transforms and divinizes the soul
The saints do not see charity as a mere moral disposition: it is the force that transforms the soul and introduces it into the very life of God. This is what tradition calls divinization — man made, by grace, a participant in the divine nature (2 Pet 1:4). Blessed Conchita Cabrera de Armida, a Mexican mystic, makes this the proper work of charity:
"Through the charity we practice, the Holy Spirit comes into our souls and accomplishes the first steps of our divinization. [...] It is charity that works this wonderful transformation of the creature's soul, giving it the wisdom that proceeds from the uncreated Wisdom of God." — Blessed Conchita Cabrera de Armida, Life in the Holy Spirit[32]
Love is therefore the only path by which man truly comes to fulfillment. Saint Charbel Makhlouf, the hermit of Lebanon, says it in a dense formula:
"Man realizes himself only through love; he reaches truth only in God. He belongs to God, because he is the son of love." — Saint Charbel Makhlouf, Homily 1[33]
And because charity unites us to God, the supreme Good, its growth is also growth in beatitude: to love more is already to rejoice more in God. Saint Aelred of Rievaulx, the "Bernard of the North," summarizes it in his Mirror of Charity:
"The greater the love of the supreme Good, the greater the delight, and the greater also the beatitude." — Saint Aelred of Rievaulx, The Mirror of Charity[34]
Charity tested: the Cross, thirst, and fire
The saints know that charity is not a peaceful sentiment but a crucified love. Its perfect measure is given by Christ himself, who loved his own "to the end" (Jn 13:1) and fixed forever the price of love:
"No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends." — Jesus Christ, according to Saint John 15:13[35]
This love is tested in the night, when consolation is absent. Saint Francis de Sales recalls that loving God resides in the "fine point" of the will, not in the sensible sweetness that can disappear without love ceasing[36]. True charity is recognized precisely by the fact that it holds fast when everything becomes arid — and that it even survives death, as Saint Faustina writes:
"Love endures everything, love fears nothing, love will survive death." — Saint Faustina Kowalska, Diary, § 46[37]
This is why the saints fear above all, not the sin of great falls, but lukewarmness — that shrunken love, that half-heart which Christ reproaches in the Church of Laodicea: "Because you are lukewarm [...], I am about to spit you out of my mouth" (Rev 3:16)[38]. Conversely, the soul seized by love enters a joy the mystics struggle to express. The Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta left an incandescent page of it:
"When a soul is plunged into the immense sea of Charity, she knows ineffable delights and savors unspeakable joys. Everything becomes Love in her: her sighs, heartbeats, and thoughts are so many melodious voices that she makes resound in the ears of her God whom she loves so much." — Jesus to the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, The Book of Heaven, volume 2, September 19, 1899[39]
Charity, an outpouring of God: loving as God loves
For Catholic tradition, and very especially for the spirituality of the Divine Will, charity is not first a human performance: it is God himself who pours himself out into the creature and makes it possible for the creature to love as he loves. Let us clarify the word, which is not obvious: living in the Divine Will is not only doing the will of God — it is letting God himself live and act in us, with his own Will. Saint Paul teaches it — "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us" (Rom 5:5) — and the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta receives the same light under an image of great beauty:
"Charity! Charity is nothing other than an outpouring of the Divine Being over all creation, which, all of it, speaks of my Love for men and invites them to love Me." — Jesus to the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, The Book of Heaven, volume 2, March 13, 1899[40]
To love in this way is to be united to God as the branch to the trunk, receiving from him the very sap of his love in order to give it back:
"Those who love Me are united to Me like the branches to the trunk of a tree. [...] The trunk is the life of the branches, and the branches are the glory of the trunk." — Jesus to the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, The Book of Heaven, volume 11, February 28, 1912[41]
This is why the mystics affirm that no soul has an excuse not to love: love is within everyone's reach, because it is first a gift before being a task. The Holy Spirit says it to Saint Angela of Foligno:
"No one has any excuse, for everyone can love; God asks of the soul only love, for he himself loves without falsehood, and he himself is the love of the soul." — The Holy Spirit to Saint Angela of Foligno, Book of Visions and Instructions, ch. 20[42]
"In the evening of life, you will be examined on love"
All these voices converge toward one final certainty: at the hour of death, only one question will be asked. Saint John of the Cross engraved it in a sentence that became the motto of the spirituality of love:
"In the evening of our life, we shall be judged on love." — Saint John of the Cross, Sayings of Light and Love, no. 59[43]
This is the exact echo of the Gospel: at the Last Judgment, the criterion is neither knowledge nor exploits, but effective love toward "the least" — "I was hungry and you gave me food" (Mt 25:35, 40)[44]. And since charity alone passes through death, to love it now is already to begin Heaven. The final word belongs to Gabrielle Bossis, who received this very simple saying of Christ:
"Let us begin Heaven. Love Me without ceasing while I love you." — Jesus to Gabrielle Bossis, He and I[45]
This, in the end, is the unanimous lesson of the saints on charity: it is the first and greatest of the virtues, because it is the only one that remains, the only one on which we shall be judged, and the only one that already begins eternity. To learn how to make it grow concretely, read the twin article How to grow in charity.
Further Reading
- How to grow in charity — the twin article: the nature of charity, its three degrees according to Saint Thomas, concrete means, and pitfalls to avoid.
- How to grow in almsgiving — works of mercy, the concrete expression of charity toward the poor.
- The charity of the Catholic Church — the immense charitable work of the Church throughout history.
- How to grow in faith and How to grow in hope — the two other theological virtues, crowned by charity.
Notes and References
First Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians 13:13, official French liturgical translation (AELF) in the source article. Conclusion of the "hymn to charity" (1 Cor 13), the charter of the primacy of love.
1Thomas a Kempis (c. 1380-1471), The Imitation of Christ, Book I, ch. III, 6. Passage cited from the edition reproduced in the collection Les paroles de la vie eternelle (Via Divina spiritual library); a universally diffused classic.
2Saint Augustine (354-430), In Epistolam Ioannis ad Parthos tractatus, X, 4. Passage cited in the Catechism of the Catholic Church § 1829. Reference edition: Homelies sur la Premiere epitre de saint Jean, Sources chretiennes no. 75.
3Father Jean du Coeur de Jesus d'Elbee (1892-1982), Croire a l'Amour, Pierre Tequi, 2007, p. 18. Spiritual commentary on Saint Therese's "little way."
4Father d'Elbee, Croire a l'Amour, Pierre Tequi, 2007, p. 30.
5Father d'Elbee, Croire a l'Amour, Pierre Tequi, 2007, p. 30 (reported saying of Christ).
6Jesus to the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta (1865-1947), The Book of Heaven, volume 11, February 26, 1912. Centro Studi Piccarreta / Resiac editions; passage cited from the collection Les paroles de la vie éternelle.
7Jesus to the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, The Book of Heaven, volume 1, no. 113. Centro Studi Piccarreta / Resiac editions; passage cited from the collection Les paroles de la vie éternelle.
8Jesus to Sister Josefa Menendez (1890-1923), Un appel a l'Amour, Oeuvre du Sacre-Coeur, 131st thousand, 2014, p. 66. Writings of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Poitiers.
9Saint Therese of the Child Jesus (1873-1897), Letter 107 (to Celine). Reference edition: Oeuvres completes, Cerf / DDB, 1992 (general correspondence).
10Saint John Vianney, the Cure of Ars (1786-1859), Pensees, Artege, 2015, p. 18.
11Saint Benedict of Nursia (c. 480-547), Rule, ch. 4, 21 ("The tools of good works"): "Nihil amori Christi praeponere." Reference edition: La Regle de saint Benoit, Sources chretiennes no. 181-182.
12Father d'Elbee, Croire a l'Amour, Pierre Tequi, 2007, p. 33-34.
13Saint Benedict Joseph Labre (1748-1783), cited in Alberic de Palmaert, Vivre l'Evangile avec Benoit-Joseph Labre, Tequi, 2019, p. 99.
14Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), De diligendo Deo (On Loving God), ch. I, 1: "Causa diligendi Deum, Deus est; modus, sine modo diligere." Reference edition: L'Amour de Dieu, Sources chretiennes no. 393.
15Jesus to Sister Josefa Menendez, Un appel a l'Amour, Oeuvre du Sacre-Coeur, 2014, p. 40.
16Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons on the Song of Songs, sermon 83, § 4 (PL 183, 1183). Reference edition: Sermons sur le Cantique, Sources chretiennes.
17Saint Vincent de Paul (1581-1660), Conferences to the Priests of the Mission (Coste ed., vol. XI, p. 32). The distinction between affective and effective love is central to his spirituality of charity. Cf. Saint Vincent de Paul par ses ecrits, Mediaspaul, 2003.
18Saint Brother Andre (Alfred Bessette, 1845-1937), of the Congregation of Holy Cross, porter in Montreal. Paraphrase from Frère André : Une pensée par jour, Médiaspaul, 2011 (January thought): as the exact wording could not be checked against the book, the saying is rendered as a paraphrase, without quotation marks.
19First Letter of Saint John 3:18, official French liturgical translation (AELF) in the source article. True charity proves itself "in deed and in truth."
20Saint John Chrysostom (c. 349-407), homily 50 on the Gospel of Matthew, § 4 (PG 58, 508), cited in Trop occupe pour t'occuper de ta vie ?, Cerf, 2015, p. 35. Classic theme of concrete charity preferred to liturgical luxury.
21Jesus to Gabrielle Bossis (1874-1950), Lui et moi. Entretiens spirituels, conversation of February 14, 1937: "Si Mes Fidèles étaient bons les uns pour les autres, la face du monde serait changée." Text verified against the Œuvre complète (Rassemblement à Son Image ed., 2021). First published: Beauchesne, vol. 1, 1948.
22Catechism of the Catholic Church, § 1825, citing Rom 5:10; Mt 5:44; Lk 10:27-37; Mt 25:40, 45. Love of enemies as a supernatural sign of Christian charity.
23Jesus to Blessed Dina Belanger (1897-1929), Religious of Jesus and Mary (Quebec), Autobiographie (entry of February 23). Passage reprinted in Jacques Gauthier, Je donnerai de la joie, Emmanuel, 2019.
24Venerable Sister Consolata Betrone (1903-1946), Capuchin of Turin — declared Venerable on April 6, 2019 (decree on the heroicity of virtues, Pope Francis) —, Jésus parle au monde, Parvis, 1994, p. 18. Apostle of the "unceasing act of love" ("Jesus, Mary, I love you, save souls").
25Saint Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997). Maxim widely repeated from her interviews and writings; for lack of a checked page and edition (cf. No Greater Love, New World Library), it is rendered here as a paraphrase, without quotation marks.
26Saint Augustine, In Epistolam Ioannis ad Parthos tractatus, VII, 8: "Dilige, et quod vis fac." Meaning: one who truly loves with the love of God can only will the good. Sources chretiennes no. 75.
27Saint Alphonsus Mary Liguori (1696-1787), Preparation for Death, Foreword. Doctor of the Church, founder of the Redemptorists.
28Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Summa Theologica, IIa-IIae, q. 23, a. 1, body: "Unde manifestum est quod caritas amicitia quaedam est hominis ad Deum" ("hence it is manifest that charity is a friendship of man for God"; translation from this article). Latin text verified on aquinas.cc and New Advent (Summa, II-II, q. 23).
29First Letter to the Corinthians 13:3, official French liturgical translation (AELF) in the source article. Without charity, even extreme works of devotion profit nothing.
30Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, Book I, ch. XV, 3 ("Of works done out of charity").
31Blessed Conchita Cabrera de Armida (1862-1937), Mexican mystic, La Vie dans l'Esprit-Saint, Emmanuel, 2009, p. 22-23.
32Saint Charbel Makhlouf (1828-1898), Maronite monk, Paroles de saint Charbel, Artege, 2014, Homily 1, p. 39.
33Saint Aelred of Rievaulx (1110-1167), The Mirror of Charity (Speculum caritatis), I, 4, 10. Reference edition: Oeuvres, Pain de Citeaux / Sources chretiennes.
34Gospel according to Saint John 15:13, official French liturgical translation (AELF) in the source article. The measure of charity: laying down one's life.
35Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622), Treatise on the Love of God, Book IX, ch. III ("On the union of our will to the divine good pleasure, in spiritual afflictions, by resignation"): love resides in "the fine supreme point of the spirit," even without sensible sweetness. Reference edition: Oeuvres, Annecy edition.
36Saint Faustina Kowalska (1905-1938), Diary. Divine Mercy in My Soul, § 46. Editions du Dauphin / Marian Press.
37Revelation 3:15-16, official French liturgical translation (AELF) in the source article. Reproach to the Church of Laodicea, figure of spiritual lukewarmness.
38Jesus to the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, The Book of Heaven, volume 2, September 19, 1899. Centro Studi Piccarreta / Resiac editions.
39Jesus to the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, The Book of Heaven, volume 2, March 13, 1899. Charity understood as an "outpouring" of the Divine Being over creation.
40Jesus to the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, The Book of Heaven, volume 11, February 28, 1912. Image of the union of loving souls with Christ as branches to the trunk (cf. Jn 15:5).
41The Holy Spirit to Saint Angela of Foligno (1248-1309), Book of Visions and Instructions, ch. 20. Franciscan mystic, "mistress of theologians."
42Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591), Dichos de luz y amor (Sayings of Light and Love), no. 59: "A la tarde te examinarán en el amor." Reference edition: Obras completas, critical ed. E. Pacho (BAC / Monte Carmelo). Common French rendering: "Au soir de notre vie, nous serons jugés sur l'amour." (This saying is numbered 64 in some French translations of the Avis et maximes.)
43Gospel according to Saint Matthew 25:31-46 (the Last Judgment), official French liturgical translation (AELF) in the source article. The criterion of judgment is effective love toward "the least" (v. 40).
44Jesus to Gabrielle Bossis (1874-1950), Lui et moi. Entretiens spirituels, conversation of December 17, 1936: "Commençons le Ciel. Aime-Moi sans cesse tandis que Je t'aime." Text verified against the Œuvre complète (Rassemblement à Son Image ed., 2021). First published: Beauchesne, vol. 1, 1948.
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