Daily Meditation for January 27, 2025

Although this is the year of hope, hope can be hard to find in a world still ravaged by war, poverty and many kinds of oppression. Hope is not a cozy down-filled comforter. It’s more like a crazy quilt, pieced together by many hands from scraps of fabric, new and old, but still sturdy and bright. One patch might be stories from the past of people who endured far worse times. Another is an image of people hurrying to bring bread and beauty to hungry brothers and sisters. Still another patch is people of every faith at prayer, turning the sorrows of the world into song. As they work, the quilters tell stories, sing and laugh. The quilt is humble and plain, but it will keep many of us warm during cold nights of cynicism and despair. It will help us get up the next day to do the long work of justice and peace-making.

By Mara Faulkner, OSB