Love of God

God has loved us from all eternity. Children of men, says the Lord, remember that I first loved you. You had not yet been born, the world itself did not exist, and even then I loved you. As long as I am God, I have loved you; I have loved you as long as I have loved Myself.

-- St. Alphonsus Liguori

Two loves have made two different cities: self love hath made a terrestrial city, which rises in contempt of God; and divine Love hath made a celestial one, which rises in contempt of self. The former glories in itself -- the latter in God.

-- St. Augustine