love

Mother Teresa and John Paul II, May 25, 1983. / L’Osservatore Romano.

Denver, Colo., Feb 14, 2023 / 09:15 am (CNA).

In a culture where the family is attacked and love is often confused with lust, it can be hard to know what a godly love looks like among one’s relationships — whether that be in dating, in marriage, or within the home.

Here are 11 quotes from the saints on love and relationships.

1. St. Teresa of Calcutta: “It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved in our own home. Bring love into your home, for this is where our love for each other must start.”

2. Venerable Fulton Sheen: “When a man loves a woman, he has to become worthy of her. The higher her virtue, the more noble her character, the more devoted she is to truth, justice, goodness, the more a man has to aspire to be worthy of her. The history of civilization could actually be written in terms of the level of its women.”

3. St. John Paul II: “Love is never something that is ready-made, something merely ‘given’ to man and woman; it is always at the same time a ‘task’ which they are set. Love should be seen as something which in a sense never ‘is’ but is always only ‘becoming,’ and what it becomes depends upon the contribution of both persons and the depth of their commitment.”

4. Venerable Fulton Sheen: “It takes three to make love, not two: you, your spouse, and God. Without God people only succeed in bringing out the worst in one another. Lovers who have nothing else to do but love each other soon find there is nothing else. Without a central loyalty life is unfinished.”

5. St. Clare of Assisi: “We become what we love and who we love shapes what we become.”

6. St. John XXIII: “The charity which burned in the household at Nazareth should be an inspiration for every family. All the Christian virtues should flourish in the family, unity should thrive, and the example of its virtuous living should shine brightly.”

7. St. John Chrysostom: “When a husband and wife are united in marriage they no longer seem like something earthly, but rather like the image of God himself.”

8. St. Josemaría Escrivá: “Marriage is to help married people sanctify themselves and others. For this reason they receive a special grace in the sacrament which Jesus instituted. Those who are called to the married state will, with the grace of God, find within their state everything they need to be holy.”

9. St. John Paul II: “Love that leads to marriage is a gift from God and  a great act of faith toward other human beings.”

10. St. Gianna Molla: “Love is the most beautiful sentiment the Lord has put into the souls of men and women.”

11. St. Thomas Aquinas: “The greater the friendship, the more solid and long-lasting the marriage will be, as we are united not only in flesh but in domestic activity.”

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