Christians love others because Jesus Christ loves them, and so it is that true love of God leads inexorably to true love of one’s fellow men. Nor should we forget that the bride’s love for others is not merely a fulfillment of a commandment – the first commandment –, given the sovereign liberty that is proper to love. There is of course a commandment that underpins and further strengthens that love (Jn 13:34). But the very fact of accepting that precept out of love, which is the only way it could be accepted, makes it absolute voluntary and free.

But the main reason why Christians love others is because love, by its very nature, tends to diffuse itself: it knows no limits. One would be perfectly right to say that he who has accepted the Gospel loves the others because he loves, and that is all there is to it. As the Apostle said: For God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Rom 5:5). Love being infinite and, therefore, impossible to be confined within limits of any kind or to be measured or weighed, tends to pour itself out, to overflow and to spread itself, in the sort of way water overflows from a bowl into which it is constantly being poured. Human love, or divine-human love, which has been super naturalized by grace, is still participated love; therefore, because it is love, true love, it has to participate in the essential conditions of love. Now, true Love, which by its very nature is infinite – God is love –, has no beginning and no end; nor are there any rules which channel it or limit the sovereign freedom of its actions. The Spirit breathes where he wills and you hear his voice: but you know not whence he comes and whither he goes (Jn 3:8).

The best attitude to adopt, therefore, towards Perfect Love is to listen to its voice and be ready to receive it: listen to its voice in order to understand, as far as possible, its words of love. Since it is Infinite Love, it is never given to man to comprehend deeply whence it comes and whither it goes – not only in the sense that it is impossible to plumb its true origin or comprehend the limits of its full scope: man can never know the outlets and the paths that love can take (Is 55:8). Popular language puts it very convincingly: it can spring from anywhere, or it can end up anywhere. It is beyond doubt that grasping what Love, qua Love, can do absolutely surpasses the capacity of any creature.

(From the book The Importunate Friend, pp. 36-37)