On Union with God

by Unknown

[60] Job vii. 1.

[61] 1 John iv. 8.

[62] Cant. viii. 6.

[63] The author is speaking here of the soul in so far as it is human, and it is as such that it is more where it loves than where it gives life.

[64] Without charity there is no perfect virtue, since without it no virtue can lead man to his final end, which is God, although it may lead him to some lower end. It is in this sense that, according to the older theologians, charity is the "form" of the other virtues, since by it the acts of all the other virtues are supernaturalized and directed to their true end—i.e., to God. Cf. St. Th. "Sum.," 2, 2^ae, q. 23, aa. 7, 8.

[65] Matt. xxii. 40.

[66] Rom. xiii. 10.

[67] 1 Tim. i. 5.

[68] God can only love Himself or creatures for His own sake; if we have this love within our souls we shall be in a certain sense one being with Him.

[69] This teaching is based on the definition that prayer is essentially "an elevation of the soul to God."