Today is the feast day of St Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church.

“Love is the only one of the soul’s motions, senses and affections by which the creature in his inadequate fashion may respond to his Creator and pay him back in kind. When God loves, he wishes only to be loved in return; assuredly he loves for no other purpose than to be loved.”

St Bernard; Sermon 83, 4-6, ‘on the Song of Songs’.