Daily Meditation for March 14, 2022

A devout and holy rabbi once said, “In my youth, fired with the love of God, I thought I would convert the whole world. I soon learned it would be quite enough to convert the people who lived in my village. But after a while I admitted, I was unsuccessful. I realized my program was too ambitious, so I tried reforming the members of my own family. But I couldn’t convert them either. Finally it dawned on me that I must work only on myself. But I have stumbled in my attempts to accomplish even that.” This story is a reminder to us of who ought to be the subject of our reform during this season of Lent. Let us begin to reform the world by a serious attempt to reform ourselves. Change comes to the world as each person makes the effort to change; to be a kinder, gentler, loving person wherever we may go. Then change happens.

By Joyce Iten, OSB