When you are able to love your enemy, he or she is no longer your enemy. The idea of “enemy” vanishes and is replaced by the notion of someone who is suffering and needs your compassion. -Thich Nhat Hanh

I think we sometimes forget how revolutionary love is.
Love destroys enemies by making them friends.
Love tears down walls and fences and instead builds longer tables.
Love bridges gaps and helps us to know one another truly and fully.
Love is curious and kind and nonjudgmental.
And love is also the force which keeps the sun and other stars burning.
It is intimate and also infinite.
Love is the source of all life,
for God is love.

Through love we see the world differently.
Rather than competitors, our neighbors appear as fellow sufferers.
Rather than obstacles, those in our path become fellow travelers.
Love is the great leveling force which reminds us
we are all made in God’s image.
We all have value and dignity inherent to our being.
We are all worthy of love because of the Love which shaped us.

Why else would that Love choose to enter into our very midst?
Jesus Christ,
the Son of God present from before the beginning,
beheld our suffering,
and in a gesture of infinite compassion, infinite love,
was born among us.
The love which keeps the cosmos moving
crossed its boundaries to dwell among us
that we might not be enemies of God

but friends.
Christ lived here with us,
suffered alongside us,
helped us through miracles and teaching and compassion,
and though he would die, rise, and ascend,
all on our behalf,
his love stays present with us and continues to guide us.
We are beings made in love
who have been shown great love
and now, may we seek to show that love in return,
to God and to one another,
today and always.

The Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh passed away in January of 2022, so to celebrate his life and teaching, each post this Advent is guided by a quote from Nhat Hanh’s Living Buddha, Living Christ.