Jesus' love for His Father began at the instant of his conception, in all the fullness of its tenderness and strength. For the rest of us, on the other hand, spiritual love of God usually awakens only very slowly.... Little by little, we learn that God is the supreme and wholly supernatural beauty. The efficacious love of God wins out only with great difficulty over our selfishness, and our more or less unruly love of creatures.
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., Our Savior and His Love for Us, 213-214.