And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you:
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Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
Suppose we first loved him so as to merit his love in return. Then wouldn’t we first choose him so as to merit our being chosen by him? But he who is Truth itself says otherwise and openly contradicts such human vanity by declaring, “You have not chosen me.” Consequently, if it is not you who have chosen, then it is certainly not you who have loved; for how could they choose him whom they did not love? “But it is I,” he says, “who have chosen you.” And how could they possibly fail to choose him afterward or fail to prefer him to all the goods of this world? It was because they were chosen that they chose him. They were not chosen because they had chosen him. There would be no merit in men’s choosing him unless the action of God’s grace in choosing them had gone before. That is why in imparting his blessing to the Thessalonians the apostle Paul declares, “And may the Lord make you to increase and abound in charity toward one another and toward all men.” He who gave this blessing to love...
This is a proof of superabundant love, that he not only prays for them by himself but even inserts his prayer in his epistles. Paul’s prayers demonstrate a fervent soul unable to restrain his love. The mention of his prayers also proves that Paul and Silvanus’s failure to visit them was not voluntary nor the result of indolence. It is as though Paul said: May God himself shorten the trials that constantly distract us, so that we may come directly to you. “And the Lord make you to increase and abound.” Do you see the unrestrained madness of love that is shown by these words? Homilies on Thessalonians
