Love that knows no bounds and tolerates no suffering

How beautiful it was yesterday, Thanksgiving Day, to see friends and families coming together, giving thanks, and feeling the love that we have the capacity to give to one another. It is unconditional love; that is what we feel for so many with whom we spent the holiday. It is love that knows no bounds and tolerates no suffering. It is love that ensures security and comfort. It is love that brings us together in feasts, and there is room at our table for every friend and family member, even those we may not know too well. Of course, they are all there, and everyone eats, laughs, and disagrees in almost every conversation. But love underlies all of what we experienced yesterday, a day of thanks.

It is our opportunity as human beings - perhaps our charge - to make that gratitude a verb, to show our thankfulness by extending the love we give far and wide by ensuring that we tolerate no suffering, not when it is so easy to relieve. Everyone is someone’s son, daughter, mother, or father - or uncle, aunt, or cousin. Everyone deserves our love, and the truth is that we are fortunate to have the opportunity to give it.

We give it by ensuring that no community is neglected and no neighborhood is left absent the resources to create health and economic stability. We support and empower those eagerly seeking to create thriving communities where poverty persists. And we recognize the urgency of the moment.

Ending poverty is about love, exactly as we felt it yesterday.