The source of Christian love is not in man’s heart. It is in God. There is only one piece of advice to give to spouses who wish to love, who wish to learn to love more and more: seek God, love God, be united with God, give Him all the room!
A person who moves away from God, although (s)he does not lose the power to love, gives up the best of their love. On the other hand, the latter increases as the love of God increases. The conjugal union in terms of human quality and eternal quality is worth the equivalent of the spouses’ union with God. The more they open themselves to the God of love, the richer the exchange of love between them is. The perspectives before them are infinite, their love will never cease to grow, because they are able to open themselves always more fully to the gift of God.
The more they open themselves to the God of love, the richer the exchange of love between them is. The perspectives before them are infinite, their love will never cease to grow, because they are able to open themselves always more fully to the gift of God. If they want their love to be an ardent flame, always more intense, they need to love God even more every day! A greater love of God does not necessarily lead to greater conjugal love, but it ends up with more abundant grace, which gives the Christian greater ease and strength with which to fulfil their duties, and one of the first of these is conjugal love.
Spouses draw on the sources of divine grace through prayer and the sacraments. Penitence maintains the transparency of the spouses’ hearts and this spark of fire, which the Eucharist deposits in everyone, illuminates and warms conjugal life…
The decline of so much love can be explained by the forgetting of this fundamental principle, namely that distancing oneself from God and sinning against him, is sinning against love by cutting oneself off from the source of love. Turning down God is denying your spouse their daily bread: love. A liar is someone who pretends to value love, when in fact they despise love.
Father Caffarel , The Golden Ring
