Yet He Loved Them All

Julia Grundy's small 1907 book *Ten Days in the Light of 'Akká* records many of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's table talks from her pilgrimage to 'Akká. Under the heading "Love," she notes this question:

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> How can we love another whose personality is unpleasant?

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She records the Master's answer:

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> See how the enemies of Christ persecuted and crucified Him, yet > He loved them all. Man is like a tree. The tree lives to > produce fruit. The fruit of man is love. It is easy for us to > love a friend or even an animal, but how difficult to love one > who is without attraction. Yet if the Love of God is shining in > our hearts, we, like Christ, may see that Love reflected in > every personality, and love all alike.

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Grundy's next note carries the teaching further. Asked the difference between universal and individual love, 'Abdu'l-Bahá answered that we must love all humanity as the children of God, even to dying with love for those who would kill us. It is not possible, He said, to love everybody with a personal love, but we must love all humanity alike.

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*A retelling based on **Ten Days in the Light of Akka** by Julia M. Grundy (chapter "Love"). For the fuller account, see the original.*

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