For Christians, love isn’t optional.
It isn’t a feeling or affinity; it’s a choice we make every day in what we say and do. All the faithful are called to love by God, who first loved us, and it is only in His power that we can fulfill that calling. This February, we invite you to reflect on what it means to embody Christian love with these 10 saint quotes.
On Loving Your Neighbor
“What is the mark of love for your neighbor? Not to seek what is for your own benefit, but what is for the benefit of the one loved, both in body and soul.” — St. Basil the Great
“Love is the vocation that includes all others.” — St. Thérèse of Lisieux
“You’ve got to love while you’re suffering and suffer while you’re loving.” — St. John Vianney
“We are born to love, we live to love, and we will die to love still more.” — St. Joseph Cafasso
“Perfect love means putting up with other people’s shortcomings, feeling no surprise at their weaknesses, finding encouragement even in the slightest evidence of good qualities in them.” — St. Thérèse of Lisieux
On Loving God
“The good things that you love are from Him, and to the extent that they are used for Him, they will remain both good and pleasant. But the things that come from Him will be rightly turned into bitterness if they are not rightly loved — if God is forsaken because you have a greater love for what He has created.” — St. Augustine of Hippo
“Love Him totally who gave Himself totally for your love.” — St. Clare of Assisi
“In the long run there will be but two kinds of men; those who love God and those who love something else.” — St. Augustine of Hippo
“Give me, good Lord, such a love for you that I will love nothing in a way that displeases you, and I will love everything for your sake.” — St. Thomas More
“What is the mark of a love for God? To keep His commandments for the sake of His glory.” — St. Basil the Great
Source:
A Dictionary of Quotes from the Saints, Dr. Paul Thigpen.