Love determines the activity of emotions and passions; It even controls the will, in spite of being determined by it

  Treatise on the Love of God, Book 1, Chapter 4

Love, as I shall explain presently, is the first feeling of satisfaction at the awareness of good; so, obviously it comes before desire – in fact, we only desire things when we love them.  It comes before pleasure; for would we find pleasure or joy in anything if we did not love it?  It comes before hope, because hope reaches out only to a future good that we love.  It comes before hatred, for we only hate evil because we love good; evil is only evil, because it is opposed to good.  It is the same with the other passions or emotions; they come form love – their root, the source of all their activity.

(Read further in Treatise on the Love of God, Book 1, Chapter 4)

Description of love

  Treatise on the Love of God, Book 1, Chapter 7

So powerfully does goodness attract, the will immediately seeks satisfaction in that direction, once it becomes aware of something good, of something most agreeable to it.

(Read further in Treatise on the Love of God, Book 1, Chapter 7)

The attraction that awakens love

  Treatise on the Love of God, Book 1, Chapter 8

The attraction which gives rise to love is not always due to likeness, but o the complementary relationship existing between lover and beloved.  No likeness awakens a sick man’s response to his doctor; it is the relationship between one man’s need and another man’s skill – one is in need of help which the other can give.

(Read further in Treatise on the Love of God, Book 1, Chapter 8)

Love seeks union

  Treatise on the Love of God, Book 1, Chapter 9

To indicate perfection of love, the Holy Spirit nearly always uses words expressing unity or connection.  … Such unity of heart, soul and mind symbolizes the perfection of love – the union of many souls.

(Read further in Treatise on the Love of God, Book 1, Chapter 9)

The union love craves is spiritual

  Treatise on the Love of God, Book 1, Chapter 10

Love seeks union, but union of the spirit.  It was by a kiss, Theotimus – remember? – that the bride expressed her desire for union with the bridegroom in the Song of Songs; a kiss, the symbol of oneness of spirit created by mutual outpouring of soul into soul.

(Read further in Treatise on the Love of God, Book 1, Chapter 10)

Two different forms of love

  Treatise on the Love of God, Book 1, Chapter 13

Love is divided into two kinds: selfish and unselfish.  Selfish love is loving something for what we can get out of it: unselfish love is loving something for its own sake – in the case of another person, what can this mean but trying to ensure his contentment.

(Read further in Treatise on the Love of God, Book 1, Chapter 13)

Love as synonym of charity

  Treatise on the Love of God, Book 1, Chapter 14

St. Augustine clearly demonstrates that the term “love” has no less sacred a connotation than the word “affection”.  Each of them, he says, can mean sometimes a pious emotion, sometimes a depraved passion; and he quotes various texts in support of this view.

(Read further in Treatise on the Love of God, Book 1, Chapter 14)

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