There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test him and said, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” He said in reply, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus replied to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.” Luke 10:25-28

Do this and you will live.

How many times have we read and heard these verses?

And how often have we stopped to think about them—will we pass this test—do we love God more than anything or anyone and do we love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves? Do we understand what this love is all about, where it comes from and more importantly, how we can get it?

I set out to see what I could find about this love. I went to books, the internet, scripture and to those people who seem to know this love more completely than anyone, the saints. I would like to share just a little of what I came across below. Maybe by the time you’ve finished reading you too will agree with John of the Cross when he says “In the evening of life, we will be judged on love alone”.

We cannot be sure if we are loving God, although we may have good reasons for believing that we are, but we can know quite well if we are loving our neighbor. And be certain that, the farther advanced you find you are in this, the greater the love you will have for God …  Teresa of Avila

True perfection consists in the love of God and our neighbor, and the better we keep both these commandments, the more perfect we shall be.   Teresa of Avila

It should be observed that perfect love of God consists not in those delights, tears and sentiments of devotion that we generally seek, but in a strong determination and keen desire to please God in all things, and to promote His glory.   Teresa of Avila

In the twilight of life, God will not judge us on our earthly possessions and human success, but rather on how much we have loved. To love is to be transformed into what we love. To love God is therefore to be transformed into God.   John of the Cross

The centre of the soul is God; and, when the soul has attained to Him according to the whole capacity of its being, which is the strength and virtue of the soul, it will have reached the last and the deep centre of the soul, which will be when with all its powers it loves and understands and enjoys God.                         John of the Cross

A Christian should always remember that the value of his good works is not based on their number and excellence, but on the love of God which prompts him to do these things.   John of the Cross

To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek him the greatest adventure; to find him, the greatest human achievement.  St. Augustine of Hippo

Don’t love this evil world or the things in it. If you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. This is all there is in the world: wanting to please our sinful selves, wanting the sinful things we see, and being too proud of what we have. But none of these comes from the Father. They come from the world.        John 2:15-16 

Love is the measure by which we shall be judged.    San Juan de la Cruz

You know well enough that Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, nor even at their difficulty, but at the love with which we do them.   Saint Therese of Lisieux

What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like. St.   Augustine of Hippo

My director, Jesus, does not teach me to count my acts, but to do everything for love, to refuse Him nothing, to be pleased when He gives me a chance to prove to Him that I love Him – but all this in peace – in abandonment.   St. Therese of Lisieux in a letter to Celine, July 6, 1893

Lord, grant that I might not so much seek to be loved as to love.   Saint Francis of Assisi

Love to be real, it must cost—it must hurt—it must empty us of self.   Mother Teresa

The person who loves God cannot help loving every man as himself, even though he is grieved by the passions of those who are not yet purified. But when they amend their lives, his delight is indescribable and knows no bounds. A soul filled with thoughts of sensual desire and hatred is unpurified. If we detect any trace of hatred in our hearts against any man whatsoever for committing any fault, we are utterly estranged from love for God, since love for God absolutely precludes us from hating any man.’                  St. Maximos the Confessor

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 in soul.   St. Basil the Great

You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working, and just so, you learn to love by loving. All those who think to learn in any other way deceive themselves.                  St. Francis de Sales

We become what we love and who we love shapes what we become. If we love things, we become a thing. If we love nothing, we become nothing. Imitation is not a literal mimicking of Christ, rather it means becoming the image of the beloved, an image disclosed through transformation. This means we are to become vessels of God´s compassionate love for others.   St. Clare of Assisi

We can cure physical diseases with medicine but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more who are dying for a little love. Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So spread love everywhere you go.                                    Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Intense love does not measure . . . it just gives.   Blessed Mother Teresa 

Real love is demanding. I would fail in my mission if I did not tell you so. Love demands a personal commitment to the will of God.   Pope John Paul II

To be taken with love for a soul, God does not look on its greatness, but the greatness of its humility.
St. John of the Cross, OCD

Always remember to love your neighbor; always prefer the one who tries your patience, who test your virtue, because with her you can always merit: suffering is Love; the Law is Love.
Bl Mary of Jesus Crucified “The Little Arab”

A soul enkindled with love is a gentle, meek, humble, and patient soul.   St John of the Cross, OCD

So dearly does His Majesty love us that He will reward our love for our neighbor by increasing the love which we bear to Himself, and that in a thousand ways.   St Teresa of Jesus, OCD

Nothing is sweeter than love, nothing stronger or higher or wider; nothing is more pleasant, nothing fuller, and nothing better in heaven or on earth, for love is born of God and cannot rest except in God, Who is above all created things.    Imitation of Christ

To love God is something greater than to know Him.   St. Thomas Aquinas

I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.       Saint Mother Teresa

A single act of pure love pleases me more than a thousand imperfect prayers.  Jesus (According to St. Faustina)                     

Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired.   Mother Teresa

If you judge people you have no time to love them.  Mother Teresa

There is a terrible hunger for love. We all experience that in our lives – the pain, the loneliness. We must have the courage to recognize it. The poor you may have right in your own family.  Find them.  Love them.   Mother Teresa

You are rewarded not according to your work or your time but according to the measure of your love.      St. Catherine of Siena