Dilexit Nos §177

¹⁷⁷ Saint Bernard, in exhorting us to union with the heart of Christ, draws upon the richness of this devotion to call for a conversion grounded in love. Bernard believed that our affections, enslaved by pleasures, may nonetheless be transformed and set free, not by blind obedience to a commandment but rather in response to the delectable love of Christ. Evil is overcome by good, conquered by the flowering of love: “Love the Lord your God with the full and deep affection of all your heart; love him with your mind wholly alert and intent; love him with all your strength, so much so that you would not even fear to die for love of him… Your affection for the Lord Jesus should be both sweet and intimate, to oppose the sweet enticements of the sensual life. Sweetness conquers sweetness, as one nail drives out another”.