We are so loved by God…

Grace, Julian of Norwich (1342-1416), Love, Page: Quotes, Quote Author, Quote Topic

For we are so preciously loved by God that we cannot even comprehend it. No created being can ever know how much and how sweetly and tenderly God loves them. It is only with the help of his grace that we are able to persevere in spiritual contemplation with endless wonder at his high, surpassing, immeasurable love which our Lord in his goodness has for us.
–Saint Julian of Norwich (1342-1416)

For when God loves….

Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), Love, Page: Quotes, Quote Author, Quote Topic

Love is a great thing so long as it continually returns to its fountainhead, flows back to its source, always drawing from there the water which constantly replenishes it. Of all the movements, sensations and feelings of the soul, love is the only one in which the creature can respond to the Creator and make some sort of similar return however unequal though it be. For when God loves, all he desires is to be loved in return; the sole purpose of his love is to be loved, in the knowledge that those who love him are made happy by their love of him.
–Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153

Growth in grace…

Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), Page: Quotes, Quote Author, Spiritual (life)

Once you have had the experience of God’s benevolence, you need no longer feel abashed in aspiring to a holier intimacy. Growth in grace brings expansion of confidence. You will love with greater ardor, and knock on the door with greater assurance, in order to gain what you perceive to be still wanting to you. ‘The one who knocks will always have the door opened to him’. It is my belief that to a person so disposed, God will not refuse that most intimate kiss of all, a mystery of supreme generosity and ineffable sweetness.
–Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153)