Love and Reward

(St. Bernard of Clairvaux - found here)

“[A]lthough God would be loved without respect of reward, yet he wills not to leave love unrewarded. True charity cannot be left destitute, even though she is unselfish and seeks not her own (1 Corinthians 13:5). Love is an affection of the soul, not a contract: it cannot rise from a mere agreement, nor is it so to be gained. It is spontaneous in its origin and impulse; and true love is its own satisfaction.

It has its reward; but that reward is the object beloved. For whatever you seem to love, if it is on account of something else, what you do really love is that something else, not the apparent object of desire. St Paul did not preach the Gospel that he might earn his bread; he ate that he might be strengthened for his ministry. What he loved was not bread, but the Gospel.

True love does not demand a reward, but it deserves one. Surely no one offers to pay for love; yet some recompense is due to one who loves, and if his love endures he will doubtless receive it.

On a lower plane of action, it is the reluctant, not the eager, whom we urge by promises of reward. Who would think of paying a man to do what he was yearning to do already? For instance no one would hire a hungry man to eat, or a thirsty man to drink, or a mother to nurse her own child. Who would think of bribing a farmer to dress his own vineyard, or to dig about his orchard, or to rebuild his house? So, all the more, one who loves God truly asks no other recompense than God himself; for if he should demand anything else it would be the prize that he loved and not God.

. . . I have said already that the motive for loving God is God himself. And I spoke truly, for he is as well the efficient cause as the final object of our love. He gives the occasion for love, he creates the affection, he brings the desire to good effect. He is such that love to him is a natural due; and so hope in him is natural, since our present love would be vain did we not hope to love him perfectly some day. Our love is prepared and rewarded by His. He loves us first, out of His great tenderness; then we are bound to repay him with love; and we are permitted to cherish exultant hopes in him. ‘He is rich unto all that call upon him’ (Romans 10:12), yet he has no gift for them better than himself. He gives himself as prize and reward: he is the refreshment of holy soul, the ransom of those in captivity.

‘The Lord is good unto them that wait for him’ (Lamentations 3:25).”

“Love that forgets about the reward grows cold.”

~St. Bernard of Clairvaux