“All holiness and perfection of soul lies in our love for Jesus Christ our God, who is our Redeemer and our supreme good.” + St. Alphonsus Liguori, bishop (1696-1787 A.D.)

“Anyone who has love is far from sin.” + St. Polycarp, bishop and martyr (69-155 A.D.)

“The man who truly loves God also loves his neighbor.” + St. Anthony Mary Claret, bishop (1807-1870 A.D.)

“Love, indeed, is the source of all good things; it is an impregnable defense, and the way that leads to heaven. He who walks in love can neither go astray nor be afraid: love guides him, protects him and brings him to his journey’s end.” + St. Fulgentius of Ruspe, bishop (467-533 A.D.)

“Love does not reflect; it is unreasonable and knows no moderation.” + St. Peter Chrysologus, bishop (406-450 A.D.)

“If someone wishes to savor the joy of brotherly love with greater perfection and delight, he must extend even to his enemies the embrace of true love.” + St. Aelred, abbot (1110-1167 A.D.)

“Love unites us to God; it cancels innumerable sins, has no limits to its endurance, bears everything patiently.” + St. Clement I, pope (unknown – 100 A.D.)

“I saw and realized that love sets off the bounds of all vocations, that love is everything, that this same love embraces every time and every place. In one word, that love is everlasting.” + St. Theresa of the Child Jesus, virgin (1873-1897 A.D.)

“With outstretched arms Christ begs us to turn toward him, to weep for our sins, and to become the servants of love, first for ourselves, then for our neighbors.” + St. John of God, religious (1495-1550 A.D.)

“Anyone alive to the love of God can be recognized from the way he constantly strives to glorify him by fulfilling all his commandments and by delighting in his own abasement.” + Diadochus of Photice, bishop (400-486 A.D.)

“Of all the movements, sensations and feelings of the soul, love is the only one in which the creature can respond to the Creator and make some sort of similar return however unequal though it be.” + St. Bernard, abbot (1090-1153 A.D.)

“We cannot love unless someone has loved us first.” + St. Augustine, bishop (354-430 A.D.)

“The man who burns with the fire of divine love is a son of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and wherever he goes, he enkindles that flame; he desires and works with all his strength to inflame all men with the fire of God’s love.” + St. Anthony Mary Claret, bishop (1807-1870 A.D.)

“Just as water extinguishes a fire, so love wipes away sin.” + St. John of God, religious (1495-1550 A.D.)

“If a person loves himself he seeks his own glory, but the man who loves God loves the glory of his Creator.” + Diadochus of Photice, bishop (400-486 A.D.)

“The spiritual building up of the body of Christ is achieved through love.” + St. Fulgentius of Ruspe, bishop (467-533 A.D.)

“Love, and the Lord will draw near; love, and He will dwell within you.” + St. Augustine, bishop (354-430 A.D.)

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love Where there is injury, pardon Where there is doubt, faith Where there is despair, hope Where there is darkness, light Where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console to be understood as to understand to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive it is in pardoning that we are pardoned it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. + St. Francis of Assisi, religious (1182-1226 A.D.)

1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.
11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.
12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13)