Daily Meditation for February 5, 2025

A devout rabbi once said, “In my youth, fired with the love of God, I thought I could convert the whole world and bring unity among all people. But soon I learned it would be quite enough to convert the people who lived in my village and so I began there. I tried creating unity there for a long time, but I was unsuccessful. Then I realized that my program was still too ambitious, so I concentrated on reforming the members of my own household. But I couldn’t convert them either. Finally, I realized that I must work only upon myself and I have stumbled in my attempts to accomplish even that. However, once I was at peace with myself, I began to be hopeful that those around me would also find peace, and then we would have unity.” Are we, individually, willing to do what we can to find peace within ourselves and have unity happen?

By Joyce Iten, OSB