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Chapter 9:
Maxims on Love of God
Maxim 9:1
According to the precept of the law,
love God with your whole heart, your whole soul and
all your strength.
Maxim 9:2
Have for God a love that is
-generous, embracing all that love is capable of
and all that a heart can love in God and for God;
- sublime, full of purpose and ardour,
transcending all created beings;
- profound, residing in the centre of your heart
and unable to be uprooted by any created power.
Maxim 9:3
In honour of the Holy Spirit who is all love,
have a love that is pure and unselfish,
the most perfect love possible.
Maxim 9:4
To live according to this Maxim,
let your love for God be unitive; that is,
let it bind you fully and totally to God
through the thoughts of your mind,
the affections of your heart and
the holiness of your words and works.
Maxim 9:5
Let your love be selfless,
leading you to seek the interests of God's glory alone,
even to the point of sacrificing totally your own interests.
Maxim 9:6
Let your love be communicative,
requiring you to give yourself to God without reserve
so that you may say in the words of the Spouse of the Canticle:
"I belong to my Beloved and my Beloved belongs to me."
Maxim 9:7
Let your love be active,
that is, let it keep on loving and impelling your heart
to work for God and for the promotion of God's glory.
Maxim 9:8
Fulfill, then, all the demands of this perfect love
and you will possess at the same time
all the great virtues and will practise them generously
as occasion requires.
Maxim 9:9
In every aspect of your life and in all your actions, if it is for God's glory
and if you are not unworthy, desire to be as pleasing to God
as are the most saintly persons who have ever lived, or are living now,
and who have performed or are performing the same actions as you.
But let this desire
spring from a selfless love which seeks nothing but to please God.
Maxim 9:10
Regret any attention that the world pays to you
or any esteem or affection it has for you.
Believe that the thought and affections of others
when they are bestowed on you,
are badly employed.
Regret the ill use that Christians make of their love
when they bestow it on created things,
and desire, as is just,
that human thoughts and affections like those of the angels,
be of God and for God alone.
Maxim 9:11
Love God infinitely above all created things
and see all created beings
as infinitely beneath God.
In this light,
hold created things in slight esteem
and be content to love and possess
God alone.
Maxim 9:12
Love God, not simply in word
or in the experience of sensible devotion,
but love God in deed
and in truth.
Love God with a love
which can say with Saint Paul
"Who can separate me from the love of Christ?
I am sure that neither hunger, nakedness or persecution,
the sword or anything else, can ever separate me from God."
Maxim 9:13
In the exercise of this love,
empty yourself of all forms of human respect and compromise,
however slight.
Make it evident that you are generously dedicated to God's service alone
and that you intend not to tolerate anything contrary to
the respect and worship owed to his sovereign Majesty.
Maxim 9:14
Do not think that you have attained
the perfection of holy love of God
unless this sacred love
has emptied you of every kind of vanity, sensuality, cowardice,
negligence in your pious practices,
worldly attachments and affections.
Only in this way
will you live entirely by the inspirations of grace and
the maxims of the Gospel.
When this love is great, it causes the soul,
even while on earth, to yearn continually for God.
Maxims on Love of God
Maxim 9:1
According to the precept of the law,
love God with your whole heart, your whole soul and
all your strength.
Maxim 9:2
Have for God a love that is
-generous, embracing all that love is capable of
and all that a heart can love in God and for God;
- sublime, full of purpose and ardour,
transcending all created beings;
- profound, residing in the centre of your heart
and unable to be uprooted by any created power.
Maxim 9:3
In honour of the Holy Spirit who is all love,
have a love that is pure and unselfish,
the most perfect love possible.
Maxim 9:4
To live according to this Maxim,
let your love for God be unitive; that is,
let it bind you fully and totally to God
through the thoughts of your mind,
the affections of your heart and
the holiness of your words and works.
Maxim 9:5
Let your love be selfless,
leading you to seek the interests of God's glory alone,
even to the point of sacrificing totally your own interests.
Maxim 9:6
Let your love be communicative,
requiring you to give yourself to God without reserve
so that you may say in the words of the Spouse of the Canticle:
"I belong to my Beloved and my Beloved belongs to me."
Maxim 9:7
Let your love be active,
that is, let it keep on loving and impelling your heart
to work for God and for the promotion of God's glory.
Maxim 9:8
Fulfill, then, all the demands of this perfect love
and you will possess at the same time
all the great virtues and will practise them generously
as occasion requires.
Maxim 9:9
In every aspect of your life and in all your actions, if it is for God's glory
and if you are not unworthy, desire to be as pleasing to God
as are the most saintly persons who have ever lived, or are living now,
and who have performed or are performing the same actions as you.
But let this desire
spring from a selfless love which seeks nothing but to please God.
Maxim 9:10
Regret any attention that the world pays to you
or any esteem or affection it has for you.
Believe that the thought and affections of others
when they are bestowed on you,
are badly employed.
Regret the ill use that Christians make of their love
when they bestow it on created things,
and desire, as is just,
that human thoughts and affections like those of the angels,
be of God and for God alone.
Maxim 9:11
Love God infinitely above all created things
and see all created beings
as infinitely beneath God.
In this light,
hold created things in slight esteem
and be content to love and possess
God alone.
Maxim 9:12
Love God, not simply in word
or in the experience of sensible devotion,
but love God in deed
and in truth.
Love God with a love
which can say with Saint Paul
"Who can separate me from the love of Christ?
I am sure that neither hunger, nakedness or persecution,
the sword or anything else, can ever separate me from God."
Maxim 9:13
In the exercise of this love,
empty yourself of all forms of human respect and compromise,
however slight.
Make it evident that you are generously dedicated to God's service alone
and that you intend not to tolerate anything contrary to
the respect and worship owed to his sovereign Majesty.
Maxim 9:14
Do not think that you have attained
the perfection of holy love of God
unless this sacred love
has emptied you of every kind of vanity, sensuality, cowardice,
negligence in your pious practices,
worldly attachments and affections.
Only in this way
will you live entirely by the inspirations of grace and
the maxims of the Gospel.
When this love is great, it causes the soul,
even while on earth, to yearn continually for God.