Love is an act of the will, so it’s something we actually have control over. It’s not about feelings, but those feelings themselves are not love. Love is an act of the will. Being an act of the will, we can do it whenever we want. But this love has to be backed up by actions or we will soon see it is a weak love from a weak will.

We know that the moral life consists essentially in loving God. And if we’ve noticed anything at all about life, it’s that loving God is not easy, and as a result, we are going to suffer. But the point of the spiritual life is not the suffering, it’s the loving. So what is love, and why does it involve suffering?

St. Paul tells us certain truths that we know only through faith. For example, it would seem madness that Jesus Christ was crucified and yet he lives, except we know these things by faith. Those who live with Christ live by faith. How often do we say to ourselves, “If I only had more faith.” But what if we did have more faith? Do we really know when we’re talking about when we say “having faith”, the kind of supernatural virtue of faith that will make the difference we are looking for?