Section — Wouters, Manual of Moral Theology
Section I. On the Order of Charity Between God and Creature
I. God is to be loved above all things with charity objectively supreme. For charity commands that we will to each one the good which he has. But God has infinite goodness. Then, a greater extrinsic good, that is, greater glory, is to be desired for God or the Creator than for any creature whatever (St. Alphonsus, II, 22).
II. God is to be loved above all things with charity appreciatively supreme. This is clear: 1. from Sacred Scripture: "You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole mind. This is the greatest and first commandment";1 2. from reason. And indeed infinite goodness, such as the goodness of God is, must be judged worthier of love than the lower and participated goodness of a creature, and therefore the former must be preferred to the latter (St. Alphonsus, II, 22; cf. St. Thomas, II-II, q. 27, a. 3).
III. Although it is fitting to love God with charity intensively supreme, nevertheless there is no obligation; nor is a certain degree of intensity required. The reason is that intensity does not so much correspond to the dignity of the object as to the subjective disposition and the more vivid apprehension of the one loving (St. Alphonsus, II, 22; VI, 442).