On Perfect Love and the Meaning of Life
“If you really want to love Jesus, first learn to suffer, because suffering teaches you to love.”
— St. Gemma Galgani
“The Imitation of Christ and of Mary is the conscious acceptance of the Cross and the Sword without retreating. It is the absolute abandonment to the Charity that acts, and not to the Pride that hides; it is the complete and irrevocable surrender of body, mind, and soul in every detail.”
— E. S. von Hertwig, April 9, 2026
“Love is sufficient of itself, it gives pleasure by itself and because of itself. It is its own merit, its own reward. Love looks for no cause outside itself, no effect beyond itself. Its profit lies in the practice. I love because I love, I love that I may love.”
— St. Bernard of Clairvaux
“Blessed is he who can attain to the fourth degree of love, and who has learned to love himself only for God’s sake.”
— St. Bernard of Clairvaux
“Love is the desire for the eternity of the beloved.”
— St. Thomas Aquinas
“True love grows in difficulties. False love is extinguished.”
— St. Thomas Aquinas
“We are like a pencil with which God writes the texts He wishes to be spoken in the hearts of men. […] What to do to change the world? Love. Love can, indeed, conquer selfishness.”
— St. Dulce of the Poor (Sister Dulce)