WE HAVE A NATURAL INCLINATION TO LOVE GOD ABOVE ALL THINGS
Suppose there were human persons who would be in the original integrity and righteousness in which Adam was created. If so, they would be given no other help from God except that which he gives to every creature so that it can perform its actions which are suitable to it. Then these persons would have not only the inclination to love God above all things but also could naturally fulfill this so righteous inclination. This divine Author and Master of nature coop erates with and lends a powerful hand to the fire to leap forward, to the water to flow down to the sea, to the earth to sink lower and remain there on reaching there. Similarly God planted in our heart a special rational inclination not only to love good in general, but to love specially and above all things his divine goodness which is better and more lovable than all things. His gracious sovereign providence demands that he offer to these fortunate persons of whom we spoke just now as much help as is necessary to put this inclination into practice and realize it. Seen from one angle, this help is natural as suitable to nature, and tending to the love of God, in so far as he is the Author and sovereign Lord of nature. Seen from another, it is supernatural because it corresponds not to the bare nature of human beings but to the nature adorned, enriched and honoured by original justice. Such justice is a supernatural quality which proceeds from a very special favour of God. As regards loving God above all things produced in keeping with this assistance, it would be called natural, as virtuous actions take their name from their objects and motives. This love of which we are speaking will tend to God alone as he is recognized as Author, Lord and supreme goal of every creature by natural light alone. As a consequence, he is lovable and worthy of esteem above all things by inclination and natural disposition.
Our human nature is not endowed with the health and original justice which the first man had when he was created. On the contrary, we are greatly corrupted by sin. Even so, the holy inclination to love God above all things remains in us. So does the natural light of reason by which we know that his supreme goodness is lovable above all things. Is it not possible for a person reflecting on God with attention, even by the natural light of reason alone, to feel a certain glow of love? This hidden inclination of our heart arouses such a glow in the depths of our heart. By it, at the first perception of this first and supreme object, our will is predisposed and feels stirred up to delight itself in it.
It often happens among partridges that some steal the eggs of others to hatch them (Jer 17: 11). They do so either due to a craving to become mothers or due to their stupidity in failing to recognize their own eggs. Here is a strange thing well attested. The young partridge hatched and nourished under the wing of the false mother, at the first call of its true mother which laid the egg from which it came forth, leaves the thievish partridge, goes to its first mother and follows it. It is due to the relationship it has with its first origin. This relationship, though it did not appear, remained secret and hidden as if dormant at the bottom of its nature till its encounter with its object. Then suddenly stirred up and as if awakened, it incites and urges the instinct of the young partridge to its first duty.
It is the same, Theotimus, with our heart. It is born, nourished and brought up in the midst of low, passing, material things, in a sense, under the wings of nature. However, at the first glance it casts on God, at the first knowledge it receives of God, the natural and first inclination to love God, which seemed stilled and unnoticeable, awakes in an instant. It suddenly appears like a spark which comes out of ashes, touches our will and gives it a glow of the supreme love of the sovereign and first principle of all things.