Daily Meditation for October 30, 2024

There is a Native American saying that states, “We do not inherit the world from our ancestors, but we borrow it from our children.” What kind of world will we leave to the generations after us? Will the world be a better place because we have passed through it? Many of us could probably tell stories of the hardships our parents or grandparents endured, during and following the Great Depression. Many of them were right in assuming that they would not live long enough to enjoy the fruits of their sacrifices, but they were willing to make them in the hope that we, their children and grandchildren, would enjoy a better life. Jesus said, “I came that they might have life, and have it to the full.” Can we say the same? Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.”

By Delores Dufner, OSB