Charity does not exist within the soul of anyone who does not love God above all things. If some created being has the first place in our heart and God only the second, then we are the enemies, not the friends of God. He must have all our heart or none. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and thy whole soul." If any person or thing hinders this supreme love for God, we must avoid it at any cost. If this is impossible, we must pray earnestly that we may never fall into the terrible misfortune of loving the creature more than the Creator, who is God, blessed forever.
This, however, does not mean that we must have a stronger feeling of love for God than for some loved object upon earth. We cannot always control our feelings. We are creatures of sense, and our senses and imagination have great power over us. Nor does it mean that the love of God is to swallow up the love of created things. This is impossible. Nor, again, does it mean there must be no possible circumstances that we can imagine in which we could not promise to choose God, however violent the temptation might be. It simply means that, as I am now and under the present circumstances, I would give up anything rather than mortally offend God.
This supreme love of God includes a conviction that God is our best friend, and therefore He will never ask of us what is beyond our power. He will provide an escape from every temptation, however violent. Hence, I will have no fear about the future. God will never ask of me what He does not give me strength to perform.
- text from Charity, Meditations for a Month by Father Richard Frederick Clarke, SJ