The reasons that move us to love God are many and very powerful: because He brought us out of nothing and He Himself governs us, He provides us with the things necessary for life and sustenance..... Moreover, this debt that we owe Him by the mere fact of our existence was increased by raising us to the order of grace and redeeming us from the power of sin by the Death and Passion of His only begotten Son and the countless benefits and gifts that we constantly receive from Him: the dignity of being His children and temples of the Holy Spirit.... It would be a tremendous ingratitude if we did not thank Him for what He has given us. Moreover," says St. Thomas, "it would be as if we were to fabricate another God for ourselves, as when the children of Israel, coming out of Egypt, made for themselves an idol.
True love-human love, and in an eminent way love for God-always ennobles and enriches man, making him a little more like his Creator.
The personal history of each person shows how dignity and happiness, even human happiness, are achieved on the path of love for God, never outside it; and when the ultimate reason for a life is based on any other motive, one is liable to fall under the dominion of one's own passions. It has been truly said that "the way to hell is already a hell"; those words of the Prophet Jeremiah to those who were dazzled by the idols of the neighboring nations are fulfilled: "The gods of others," said the Prophet, "will not grant you rest.
To stop loving God is to enter a path in which one yielding calls to another, for he who offends the Lord "does not stop at one sin, but, on the contrary, is driven to indulge in others: he who commits sin is the slave of sin" (Jn 8:34). For this reason it is not at all easy to get out of it, as St. Gregory said: "the sin that is not extirpated by penance, by its own weight drags other sins". Love for God leads us to detest sin, to distance ourselves - with the help of his grace, with the ascetic struggle - from any occasion in which there could be offense against God, to do penance for the faults and sins of our past life.
We should frequently make positive acts of love and adoration of the Lord: filling with content every genuflection - a sign of adoration - before the Tabernacle, or perhaps repeating the words Adoro te devote, or those we say when reciting the Gloria at Holy Mass: We praise Thee, We bless Thee, We adore Thee, We glorify Thee, We give Thee thanks.
One fails to love God when one does not give Him due worship, when one does not pray or prays badly, in willful doubts against the faith, in reading books, newspapers or magazines that threaten faith or morals, in giving credit to superstitions or doctrines - even if they are presented as scientific - that are opposed to the faith, both of which are the fruit of ignorance; by exposing oneself or one's children or those under one's care to influences harmful to faith or morals; by mistrusting God, his power or his goodness. .. "And this is the index for the soul to know clearly whether it loves God or not, with pure love. If it loves Him, its heart will not be centered on itself, nor will it be attentive to attaining His tastes and conveniences. She will devote herself to seeking God's honor and glory and to pleasing Him. The more she has a heart for herself, the less she has a heart for God. "1We want to have our hearts set on the Lord and on the people and tasks we perform for Him and with Him.