“He who loves God will seek no other reward for his love than God Himself. If he hopes for something else, he does not love God but what he hopes to obtain” (St Bernard of Clairvaux).
These are the wise words of St Bernard, which invite us to make our love for God ever more pure.
Although the Lord in no way deprives us of the reward – on the contrary, He always assures us of it in the Gospel (cf. Mt 10:42, for example) – once love for God has been awakened, we will always seek Him first, forgetting, or at least relegating, the expected reward.
The Father Himself and His love are our goal for time and eternity, and the true reward that no one can take away from us after we have finished our race in His grace.
When we consciously follow our Lord, we have already made the decision to seek Him in everything and not to put the reward in the foreground.
But on the spiritual path our love becomes stronger and more refined. It cuts through all the hidden manifestations of self-love that hinder the unfolding of true love. There is a certain entitlement and ‘right to reward’ in this self-love, although we may not be fully aware of it. It may not be so obvious, but this attitude will only dissolve completely when we give our lives to God without reserve, day by day, and become more and more aware of His love.
We can ask the Spirit of the Lord, as the Pentecost sequence exclaims, to “shine within the inmost breast” and purge away everything that stands in the way of the growth of love. Surely the Lord will hear this prayer and our love for Him will grow deeper and deeper and our receptivity to His love will grow greater and greater.