On Loving God

“Rest is in Him alone. Man knows no peace in the world; but he has no disturbance when he is with God.””

— Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

“The reason for loving God is God Himself. As to how He is to be loved, there is only one measure: It is immeasurable!””

— Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

“In Him should all our affections center, so that in all things we should seek only to do His will, not to please ourselves.””

— Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

“Righteousness is the natural and essential food of the soul, which can no more be satisfied by earthly treasures than the hunger of the body can be satisfied by air. If you should see a starving man standing with mouth open to the wind, inhaling draughts of air as if in hope of gratifying his hunger, you would think him lunatic. But it is no less foolish to imagine that the soul can be satisfied with worldly things which only inflate it without feeding it.””

— Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

“[Quomodo stilla aquae modica, multo infusa vino, deficere a se tota videtur, dum et saporem vini induit, et colorem; et quomodo ferrum ignitum et candens, igni simillimum fit, pristina propriaque forma exutum; et quomodo solis luce perfusus aer in eamdem transformatur luminis claritatem, adeo ut non tam illuminatus, quam ipsum lumen esse videatur: sic omnem tunc in sanctis humanam affectionem quodam ineffabili modo necesse erit a semetipsa liquescere, atque in Dei penitus transfundi voluntatem.]As a drop of water poured into wine loses itself, and takes the color and savor of wine; or as a bar of iron, heated red-hot, becomes like fire itself, forgetting its own nature; or as the air, radiant with sun-beams, seems not so much to be illuminated as to be light itself; so in the saints all human affections melt away by some unspeakable transmutation into the will of God.””

— Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

“And real happiness will come, not in gratifying our desires or in gaining transient pleasures, but in accomplishing God's will for us: even as we pray every day: "Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven””

— Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

“To them that long for the presence of the living God, the thought of Him is sweetest itself: but there is no satiety, rather an ever-increasing appetite...””

— Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

“He gives Himself as prize and reward: He is the refreshment of holy soul, the ransom of those in captivity.””

— Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

“O wretched slaves of Mammon, you cannot glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ while you trust in treasures laid up on earth: you cannot taste and see how gracious the Lord is, while you are hungering for gold. If you have not rejoiced at the thought of His coming, that day will be indeed a day of wrath to you.””

— Saint Bernard of Clairvaux