What did the Church teach about experiencing God's love personally?

Researched by the Ignaria Editorial Team · Published 2026-05-05

One of the most persistent questions in Christian experience is not whether God loves humanity in the abstract, but whether He loves me — this particular person, in this particular weakness, with these particular sins. The Christian tradition speaks to this with remarkable directness. Augustine's Confessions records the moment God's word struck his heart like a blow and love rose in response: "Not with doubting, but with assured consciousness, do I love Thee, Lord. Thou hast stricken my heart with Thy word, and I loved Thee." This experiential certainty — not emotional volatility but deep inward conviction — is the tradition's characteristic answer. Bernard of Clairvaux (On Loving God, c. 1130 AD) argued that the reason for loving God is God himself — infinite, prior, free — who loved miserable sinners first and immeasurably; the only appropriate response is boundless return. Thomas Watson (1660) marvelled at adoption: that God makes traitors into children and heirs is stupendous love, unmatched even for unfallen angels. William Law pressed the particularity further: "You are as much the care of this great God and Father of all worlds and all spirits, as if He had no son but you." The tradition's answer to "Does God love me personally?" is consistent: yes, proactively, particularly, and with initiative that does not wait for worthiness.