De secundo et tertio gradu amoris.
From Self-Interest to God's Sweetness
Through repeated tribulation and deliverance, the soul is softened by grace and drawn from loving God for its own sake toward loving God for God's own sake, once divine sweetness is truly tasted.
So now he loves God, but still for his own sake, not yet for God's own sake. There is, nevertheless, a certain prudence in knowing what you can do on your own and what you can do with God's help — and in keeping yourself fiercely devoted to him who keeps you safe for yourself. But if frequent tribulation strikes, and because of it there is frequent turning to God, and from God equally frequent deliverance follows — surely, even if the breast has been made of iron or the heart of stone, after being delivered so many times, it must be softened by the grace of the one who delivers, so that a person may love God not only for his own sake, but also for God's own sake? Indeed, from the occasion of frequent necessities, it is necessary that through constant appeals God be sought out by the person — sought out so as to be tasted, tasted so as to be proved — how sweet the Lord is. And so it happens that, once God's sweetness has been tasted, it draws you toward loving God purely — more than your own need drives you. Just as the Samaritans said to the woman who had announced that the Lord was present: 'We no longer believe because of what you said; we ourselves have heard, and we know that he is truly the Savior of the world' — so, I say, following their example, let us say to our own flesh, and rightly: 'We no longer love God because of your need; we ourselves have tasted and know that the Lord is sweet.'✦ For there is a certain voice of the flesh — necessity — and the benefits it receives, it proves by rejoicing and reports with delight. So once you're moved in this way, it won't be hard to fulfill the commandment about loving your neighbor. For he truly loves God, and through this, he loves the things that are God's.
The Marks of God-Centered Love
Love that has been purified by God's sweetness becomes chaste, just, freely given, and patterned on Christ's own self-giving — loving God because God is good, not because God is good to us.
Such a person loves chastely and isn't burdened by obeying the command of the one who makes chaste, purifying the heart all the more, as it is written, in the obedience of love. Such a person loves justly and willingly embraces the just command. This love is rightly pleasing because it's freely given. This love is chaste because it isn't spent on the word or on the tongue, but on the deed and in truth.✦ Such a person is just, because as he is received, so he is in turn given back. The one who loves in this way loves assuredly no differently than he himself has been loved; and he too seeks in turn, not his own interests, but those of Jesus Christ — just as Christ sought what is ours, or rather, sought us, and not his own. This is how the one loves who says: Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. Whoever confesses to the Lord — not because the Lord is good to him, but because the Lord is good — that person truly loves God on account of God, and not on account of himself.
The Third Degree: Loving God for God's Own Sake
The third degree of love is reached when one loves God not for any benefit received but purely because God is good — a love that is no longer transactional but wholly disinterested.
The one who loves in this way does not love as it is said of him: "He will give you thanks when you have done him a good turn."✦ This is the third degree of love, in which God is now loved for his own sake.
Read the original Latin
Amat ergo jam Deum, sed propter se interim adhuc, non propter ipsum. Est tamen quaedam prudentia scire quid ex te, quid ex Dei adjutorio possis, et ipsi servare te infensum, qui te tibi servat illaesum. At si frequens ingruerit tribulatio, ob quam et frequens ad Deum conversio fiat, et a Deo aeque frequens liberatio consequatur; nonne, etsi fuerit ferreum pectus, vel cor lapideum toties liberati, emolliri necesse est ad gratiam liberantis, quatenus Deum homo diligat, non propter se tantum, sed et propter ipsum? Ex occasione quippe frequentium necessitatum crebris necesse est interpellationibus Deum ab homine frequentari, frequentando gustari, gustando probari quam suavis est Dominus. Ita fit ut ad diligendum pure Deum plus jam ipsius gustata alliciat suavitas, quam urgeat nostra necessitas; ita ut exemplo Samaritanorum, dicentium mulieri quae adesse Dominum nuntiaverat, Jam non propter tuam loquelam credimus; ipsi enim audivimus, et scimus quia ipse est vere Salvator mundi; ita, inquam, et nos illorum exemplo carnem nostram alloquentes, dicamus merito: Jam non propter tuam necessitatem Deum diligimus; ipsi enim gustavimus et scimus quoniam suavis est Dominus. Est enim carnis quaedam loquela necessitas, et beneficia quae experiendo probat, gestiendo renuntiat. Itaque sic affecto, jam de diligendo proximo implere mandatum, non erit difficile. Amat quippe veraciter Deum, ac per hoc quae Dei sunt.
Amat caste, et casto non gravatur obedire mandato, castificans magis cor suum, ut scriptum est, in obedientia charitatis. Amat juste, et mandatum justum libenter amplectitur. Amor iste merito gratus, quia gratuitus. Castus est, quia non impenditur verbo, neque lingua, sed opere et veritate. Justus est, quoniam qualis suscipitur, talis et redditur. Qui enim sic amat, haud secus profecto, quam amatus est, amat; quaerens et ipse vicissim, non quae sua sunt, sed quae Jesu Christi, quemadmodum ille nostra, vel potius nos, et non sua quaesivit. Sic amat qui dicit: Confitemini Domino quoniam bonus. Qui Domino confitetur, non quoniam sibi bonus est, sed quoniam bonus est; hic vere diligit Deum propter Deum, et non propter seipsum.
Non sic amat de quo dicitur: Confitebitur tibi cum benefeceris ei. Iste est tertius amoris gradus, quo jam propter se ipsum Deus diligitur.
Scripture echoes
- ↩John.4.42 — and they were saying to the woman, "It is no longer because of your word that we believe, for we ourselves have heard, and we know that this one is truly the Savior of the world."
- ↩1John.3.18 — Little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and truth.
- ↩Prov.19.17 — Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, and He will repay them for their deed.
On Loving God companion
Fourteen days is a start. Love grows by daily practice.
Continue with a short daily portion of historic devotion in the free Chosen Portion app.
Bernard argues love of God deepens through repeated, ordinary acts of devotion — the daily portions in Chosen Portion are precisely that repeated practice.
- Finish the plan, then keep a 10-minute daily devotional habit
- Read classics like Bernard's in plain modern English, one portion a day
- Track which of the four degrees you are practicing, week by week