Daily Meditation for February 14, 2025

A few years ago, there was a bookstore in Minneapolis called The Hungry Mind. That is a perfect name for a bookstore and also for the eager, insatiable desire to learn that has possessed humans since the very beginning. Books, of course, are one good way to satisfy this hunger. The good news is that neither books, nor bookstores, nor libraries have disappeared as some predicted. We can also learn from almost every person if we ask curious questions and listen to their answers. We can spend time learning what squirrels and owls and stars have to teach us about existence. In silence, we can sink into the wordless center of ourselves to learn what God is saying to us. The only way to crush this hunger is to decide that we know enough; that our minds are now full like an overstuffed stomach that can’t take in another tasty morsel. But minds like bodies need food to keep from dying. So, here’s to hungry minds in the new year and the hope they can lead us to.

By Mara Faulkner, OSB