Should persons be loved for their own sakes?  Yes in one sense, no in another.  I should not love Sandra for the sake of what which is less than Sandra, for example, her cooking.  But I should love her for the sake of what is greater than she is, that is, God.  To love her the former way is to love her less -- in fact, not at all.  But to love her the latter way is to love her more -- for she is His image, and all she has and all she is comes from Him.

Commentary on Thomas Aquinas's Virtue Ethics