Is My Love of God Sufficient?

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.^[1]

            If any Christian was asked, “Do you love God,” undoubtedly, they would answer in the affirmative.  If one was to ponder upon the question a little, other questions should arise: What does loving God entail—especially since the individual is not the authority, or judge, that determines this?  Does just being at Mass entail loving God with all your heart?  What if we “try” to be attentive at Mass—realizing our minds wanders, either a little or a lot?  Does being nice to people entail loving God with all your heart?  Does being a “good” person in our eyes entail loving God with all your heart?  The questions can go on and on.  When all is said and done, God will not ask us whether we love him; he will tell us whether or not we love him.

            Now, we believe that God is our Creator.  Did he create us for our purposes or for his purpose?  The psalmist cries out:  Turn, O Lord, save my life; deliver me for the sake of thy steadfast love (emphasis added).^[2]  He restores my soul.  He guides me along right paths for the sake of his name (emphasis added).^[3]  In the thirty first psalm, the psalmist implores God, for your name’s sake (emphasis added) lead me and guide me.^[4]  In Psalm 143: For your name’s sake, Lord (emphasis added), give me life.^[5]  There are numerous such passages; therefore, I am going to just take a last one from the prophet, Ezekiel: And you shall know that I am the Lord when I deal with you thus, for the sake of my name (emphasis added), not according to your evil ways and wanton deeds…^[6] 

            I think it is abundantly clear that we were created to exhibit his love, for the sake of his name.  He did not create us in order that we may watch sports, that we can be “somebody” above others, that we can live in comfort while others cannot, etc.  We were created from his love in order that we could exhibit that same love.  Mankind fell because he desired to dictate what is right and what is wrong, in other words to be like God.  Is that not what is going on, even today?  Mankind was formed from the dirt of the ground.  In that sense, we are nothing.  God formed us and gave us life.  Should we not love him with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength?  Is it not the just thing to do?

            From St. Thomas Aquinas’ Catena Aurea on the Gospel of Matthew, we read: “…To love God with the whole heart is to have the heart inclined to the love of no one thing more than of God.  To love God … the whole soul is to have the mind stayed upon the truth and to be firm in the faith.  For the love of the heart and the love of the soul are different. The first is in a sort carnal, that we should love God even with our flesh, which we cannot do unless we first depart from the love of the things of this world.  The love of the heart is felt in the heart, but the love of the soul is not felt but is perceived because it consists in a judgment of the soul.  For he who believes that all good is in God and that without Him is no good, he loves God with his whole soul.  But to love God with the whole mind is to have all the faculties open and unoccupied for Him.  He only loves God with his whole mind whose intellect ministers to God, whose wisdom is employed about God, whose thoughts travail in the things of God, and whose memory holds the things which are good.”[7]

            St. Augustine teaches: You are commanded to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind—that is, with your whole thoughts, your whole life, and your whole understanding—that we may give to Him--from whom we have, that we give. Thus, He has left no part of our life which may justly be unfilled of Him or give place to the desire after any other final good.[8]          

            Archbishop John MacEvilly informs us that St. Thomas Aquinas, “by the heart, understands the will; and by the three others” (soul, mind, and strength), “the principles of action, which are moved by the will, viz., the intellect, signified by the ‘mind;’ the inferior appetite, expressed by ‘soul’…; and the external power of action, denoted by ‘strength.’  Hence, God is to be so loved by us, that our entire intention should be borne towards Him…; our intellect subject to Him; our sensual appetite regulated according to Him; our entire external course of action obedient to Him, and rendered conformable to His will and precepts.”^[9]  He says what it boils down to: the words “soul,” “mind,” and “strength” signify “with your whole heart.^[10]  This, however, does not really help us because Holy Scripture tells us we do not even know our own hearts (cf. Jer 17:9), wherein God tells us, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt; who can understand it?”^[11]  The Douay-Rheims renders the passage, “The heart is perverse above all things, and unsearchable; who can know it?”^[12]  This reminds us that we are not the authority over our own hearts.  God, through the prophet, Jeremiah, instructs us, “Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings, who makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.”^[13]  First, we are human beings; therefore, we cannot put our trust in ourselves.  Secondly, it is our hearts that first turn away from God.  Thirdly, we are told, “…those who commit sin are the enemies of their own lives.”^[14]  Now, is our love of God sufficient?

            In his commentary, Archbishop MacEvilly, tells us: “Josias (4 Kings 23:3) made a covenant for the people, that they would keep His commandments, ‘with all their heart, and with all their soul;’ and he himself is said (verse 25), to have ‘returned to the Lord with all his heart, and all his soul, and all his strength.’  Hence, these several words are used, or rather, the same idea is expressed in different words, for greater emphasis’ sake.  For, the word, ‘heart,’ embraces the affections, expressed by ‘soul;’ and intellect, expressed by ‘mind’…; and, moreover, in order that a man could be said to do a thing ‘with all his heart,’ he should use his utmost exertions, as far as his strength would allow.  Hence, is added, ‘with all thy strength.’^[15]  This we must do in prayer because, no matter how many good deeds we do, we know that there are always more that we could do.  We are easily resigned to stop short, not to give our all.

            Returning to Archbishop MacEvilly: “The whole precept may be, then, summed up briefly, in the words, ‘thou shalt love the Lord … with thy whole heart.’ The question next is, what these words mean. They certainly cannot refer to our actually and constantly loving God with all the energies of our soul, so that we should be constantly engaged in acts of love, that we should love nothing but Him, and love Him as much as He deserves to be loved.  In this sense, the precept can only be fulfilled in the life to come. In this sense, we can only hope to arrive at the love of God, as the term of our fruition in heaven.  In this sense, it might be suited to the angels; but, it would be impossible for us, poor weak mortals here on earth.  It is in this sense that St. Augustine, speaking in certain portions of his works, both of this precept of loving God, and of the precept, ‘thou shalt not covet,’ says, they are not accomplished in this life, but only to be fulfilled in the life to come.”^[16]  What he says is true; nonetheless, that is why we must pray without ceasing: It is impossible with us; God must do it.  Therefore, we must persevere in prayer to the end.  It is our hope.  If we stop praying, it is because we either become weary or we don’t care—lack of faith.

            Thus saith the Lord your God, turn ye to Me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning, and rend your hearts and not your garments…^[17]  “Put away doubting from you, and do not hesitate to ask of the Lord, saying to yourself, ‘How can I ask of the Lord and receive from Him, seeing I have sinned so much against Him?’  Do not thus reason with yourself, but with all your heart turn to the Lord, and ask of Him without doubting, and you will know the multitude of His tender mercies; that He will never leave you, but fulfill the request of your soul.  For He is not like men, who remember evils done against them; but He Himself remembers not evils and has compassion on His own creature.  Cleanse, therefore, your heart from all the vanities of this world and from the words already mentioned; and ask of the Lord and you will receive all; and in none of your requests will you be denied which you make to the Lord without doubting.  But if you doubt in your heart, you will receive none of your requests.  For those who doubt regarding God are double-souled and obtain not one of their requests.  But those who are perfect in faith ask everything, trusting in the Lord; and they obtain because they ask nothing doubting and not being double-souled.  For every double-souled man, even if he repent, will with difficulty be saved.  Cleanse your heart, therefore, from all doubt and put on faith, because it is strong, and trust God that you will obtain from Him all that you ask.  And if at any time, after you have asked of the Lord, you are slower in obtaining your request [than you expected], do not doubt because you have not soon obtained the request of your soul; for invariably it is on account of some temptation or some sin of which you are ignorant that you are slower in obtaining your request.  Wherefore, do not cease to make the request of your soul, and you will obtain it.  But if you grow weary and waver in your request, blame yourself and not Him who does not give to you.  Consider this doubting state of mind, for it is wicked and senseless, and turns many away entirely from the faith, even though they be very strong.  For this doubting is the daughter of the devil and acts exceedingly wickedly to the servants of God.  Despise, then, doubting, and gain the mastery over it in everything; clothing yourself with faith, which is strong and powerful.  For faith promises all things, perfects all things; but doubt, having no thorough faith in itself, fails in every work which it undertakes. You see, then … that faith is from above—from the Lord—and has great power; but doubt is an earthly spirit, coming from the devil, and has no power.  Serve, then, that which has power--namely faith--and keep away from doubt, which has no power, and you will live to God.  And all will live to God whose minds have been set on these things.”^[18]

            “All these commandments … respecting love or charity (which are so great, and such that whatever action a man may think he does well is by no means well done if done without love) would be given to men in vain if they had [no] free choice of will.”^[19]  Notwithstanding this, the fact that we have free choice of will to love God with all our heart does not mean that we have an innate ability to do so.  We must pray that God puts this ability in us.  As St. Augustine explains: “…From what source is there in men [for] the love of God and of one’s neighbor but from God Himself?^[20]

            We cannot rely upon our personal assessments when we ponder the question of whether our love of God is sufficient.  We must always understand that our love of God and neighbor is insufficient.  As a result, we need to implore God that he causes us to love him with all our heart.  It cannot be a one-time prayer, but must be a constant prayer.  In Luke 18, Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary.^[21]  It was the parable regarding the unjust judge and the widow woman.  He concluded by saying: “Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says.  Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night?  Will he be slow to answer them?  I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.  But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”^[22]  Our Lord is connecting prayer and faith.  We pray because of faith; we stop praying due to a lack of faith.  When we become weary with prayer, it is due to a lack of faith.  Therefore, we must persevere in prayer that he causes us to love him with all our heart.  When we continuously pray, we know without doubt that God will answer our prayer. 

            God is in eternity; we are in time.  Archbisop Luis Martinez hits the proverbial nail on the head when he explains: “The action of God upon His saints is most gentle. How He respects our liberty!  How He condescends to our weakness!  He does not run or jump or act violently.  We, being weak creatures, rush; but God works slowly, because He deals with eternity.  We bewail the passage of minutes; but God serenely watches the flow of years. We wish to achieve the goal of our desires with a single rush; but God prepares His work gently, nor does our inconstancy weary Him, nor do our failures startle Him, nor do the complicated vicissitudes of human life overturn His eternal designs.  Conversions are prodigies of gentleness, such as was St. Augustine’s. The long stages necessary for union are prodigies of gentleness,”[23]  Therefore, although God has answered, it seems agonizing slow because we are in time.  Because it is slow does not mean that God is not answering. 

            Not only is it slow, it is also painful.  Jesus tells his apostles, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”^[24]  When we sin, we are not keeping his commandments.  Therefore, in answering our prayers, he will not act as a genie and, zap!, we are loving him with all our heart.  He must make us humble; he must make us feel at times that he is turning his face away from us.  Sometimes, he makes us suffer through infirmities.  Archbishop Martinez teaches us: “When we present ourselves before God, instead of making a show of our pretended virtues, we must recognize and confess our misery and our nothingness, for they are what attract God.  This is why I do not tire of repeating that there is an infallible means of attracting our Lord — and I shall dare to say it — of obtaining from Him whatever we will: namely, our nothingness.”[25]  When we love God, we are ascending to him; however, as the archbishop teaches, we cannot ascend by what we achieve, but must ascend by descending: “When, in our eagerness for God, we desire to possess Him, let us not urge our purity or our virtues or our merits to oblige Him to come to our hearts; for either we do not have these things, or we have received them from Him. Let us show Him what is properly our own, the unspeakable misery of our being.  Let us lower ourselves deeper into the depths of our nothingness.  Then the Lord will feel the dizziness caused by the abyss, and He will plunge Himself into the limitless void with the impetuous force of His mercy and His goodness.  We must not think that this secret for drawing down God is the unique property of the beginnings of the spiritual life.  No, it applies to all of it.  Thanks be to God, our misery has no limits, and thus it can never exhaust infinite mercy.”[26] 

           We cannot stir up love of God within our depths just by our will.  God has to put his love in us—through time.  Whenever we exercise faith, faith will grow.  It grows and diminishes according to our use of it.  Also, the more faith we use, the more the love of God increases.  Without faith it is impossible to please him, for anyone who approaches God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.^[27]  The prophet Jeremiah laments, “Bring us back to you, Lord, that we may return.”^[28]  He understands that, being sinful men, Israel cannot turn to holy God; it was necessary for God to turn them, and then they would return.  This is the psalmist’s plea in numerous psalms. 

            One example of this: Restore us, O God; let thy face shine, that we may be saved!^[29]  He sees their nothingness, their powerlessness to reach up to God to please him.  God has to reach down and restore us and cause us to please him.  Pride tries to take charge at this point: God has given me the strength; I can do it!  When God does cause us to please him, we do it with humility because it is really he who is doing it.  The psalmist could not even implore God to restore them without God first putting it in him to cry out.  Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.^[30]

            Because we are still in time, here in this mortal body, yes, our love of God is insufficient and will be insufficient.  Therefore, we are crying out.  This is due to the fact that he is putting it in us to cry out.  If we stop crying out, is it because he is no longer putting the will in us to cry out?  No, he is still putting the will in us; we would just be saying “no.”  We would be becoming weary of asking.  But that is not us.  We’ve got God putting the will to cry out in us; we have our Blessed Mother praying for us; we have the saints praying for us; we have the Catholic Church praying for us.  He is answering, and it will be culminated when we pass through the tunnel (death) to Life.  We must persevere.  God is not unfaithful.  If we pray according to his will, he will answer.  If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.^[31]  Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.^[32]  “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which one of you would hand his son a stone when he asks for a loaf of bread, or a snake when he asks for a fish? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him.^[33]  However, we must keep asking because our love is insufficient and will not be sufficient until the end.

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^[1] New American Bible, Revised Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Mk 12:30.

^[2] Catholic Biblical Association (Great Britain), The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, (New York: National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, 1994), Ps 6:4.

^[3] Ibid., Ps 23:3.

^[4] Ibid., Ps 31:4.

^[5] Ibid., Ps 143:11.

^[6] Ibid., Eze 20:44.

[7] Aquinas, Thomas. Catena Aurea - Gospel of Matthew - Enhanced Version (Kindle Locations 14247-14254). Christian Classics Ethereal Library. Kindle Edition

[8] Ibid., (Kindle Locations 14255-14257).

^[9] John MacEvilly, An Exposition of the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, (Dublin; New York: M. H. Gill & Son; Benziger Brothers, 1898), 414.

^[10] Ibid.

^[11] Catholic Biblical Association (Great Britain), The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, (New York: National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, 1994), Je 17:9.

^[12] The Holy Bible, Translated from the Latin Vulgate, (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2009), Je 17:9.

^[13] New American Bible, Revised Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Je 17:5.

^[14] Catholic Biblical Association (Great Britain), The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, (New York: National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, 1994), Tob 12:10.

^[15] John MacEvilly, An Exposition of the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, (Dublin; New York: M. H. Gill & Son; Benziger Brothers, 1898), 414–415.

^[16] Ibid., 415.

^[17] Leo the Great, Leo the Great, Gregory the Great, 1895, 12a, 198.

^[18] Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, Eds., Fathers of the Second Century: Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, and Clement of Alexandria (Entire), 1885, 2, 26 (Shepard of Hermas).

^[19] Augustine of Hippo, Saint Augustin: Anti-Pelagian Writings, 1887, 5, 459.

^[20] Ibid.

^[21] New American Bible, Revised Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Lk 18:1.

^[22] Ibid., Lk 18:6–8.

[23] Martinez, Archbishop Luis M., Worshipping a Hidden God (p. 63). Sophia Institute Press. Kindle Edition.

^[24] New American Bible, Revised Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Jn 14:15.

[25] Martinez, Archbishop Luis M., Worshipping a Hidden God (p. 56). Sophia Institute Press. Kindle Edition.

[26] Ibid., pp 10-11)

^[27] New American Bible, Revised Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Heb 11:6.

^[28] New American Bible, Revised Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), La 5:21.

^[29] Catholic Biblical Association (Great Britain), The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, (New York: National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, 1994), Ps 80:3.

^[30] Catholic Biblical Association (Great Britain), The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, (New York: National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, 1994), Php 2:12–13.

^[31] New American Bible, Revised Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Jn 15:7.

^[32] New American Bible, Revised Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Jn 16:23.

^[33] New American Bible, Revised Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Mt 7:7–11.