Three Ways of Loving God

Three Ways of Loving God: St. Augustine, St. Teresa, and St. Francis on Loving God

"It seems to me that one loves very differently from others when one has learned the great difference between this world and the other one."
St. Teresa of Avila

This is a deceptively simple book, written by three experts on the Christian spiritual life. Each of them writes with clarity, and from a great depth of personal experience, and yet what they describe is something that is ultimately beyond description. That's what we mean when we say that the book is deceptively simple: you cannot obtain what they describe by simply reading.

"Too late have I loved you, O Beauty, ancient yet ever new. Too late have I loved you! And behold, you were within, but I was outside, searching for you there—plunging, deformed amid those fair forms that you had made. You were with me, but I was not with you. Things held me far from you, which, unless they were in you, did not exist at all. You called and shouted, and burst my deafness. You gleamed and shone upon me, and chased away my blindness. You breathed fragrant odors on me, and I held back my breath, but now I pant for you. I tasted, and now I hunger and thirst for you. You touched me, and no I yearn for your peace."
St. Augustine of Hippo, Three Ways of Loving God

Three Ways of Loving God is a collection of three distinct but united voices on the subject of what it means to love God, and to know that you are loved by God. In these pages, you will meet three of the most interesting Christians in the history of our faith: St. Augustine of Hippo, St. Teresa of Avila, and St. Francis de Sales. Their viewpoints are presented chronologically. Short biographies of each may be found at the conclusion of the book.