Anniversary of Dorothy Day
Reflection
A writer, editor and social reformer, Dorothy Day was born, in New York City on November 8, 1897. She was a radical during her time, working for such social causes as pacifism and women’s suffrage. Arrested several times for her involvement in protests, she even went on a hunger strike after being jailed for protesting in front of the White House. Dorothy was intrigued by the Catholic faith for years and converted in 1927. In 1933, she co-founded The Catholic Worker, which promoted Catholic teachings and confronted societal issues. It became very successful and spawned the Catholic Worker Movement, which dealt with issues of social justice guided by religious principles. As part of the movement’s belief in hospitality, Dorothy Day helped establish special homes to provide for those in need. She died on November 29, 1980, at Maryhouse, one of the Catholic settlement houses she helped establish.
Prayer
The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
Action
“The greatest challenge of the day is: how to bring about a revolution of the heart, a revolution which has to start with each one of us.”(Dorothy Day) Do you agree? What is your challenge?
Suggested Reading
I tell you with certainty, since you did it for one of the least important of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it for me.
Matthew 25:40
The Gospel takes away our right forever, to discriminate between the deserving and the undeserving poor.
Dorothy Day
We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community.
Dorothy Day
I really only love God as much as I love the person I love the least
Dorothy Day
People say, what is the sense of our small effort? They cannot see that we must lay one brick at a time, take one step at a time. A pebble cast into a pond causes ripples that spread in all directions. Each one of our thoughts, words and deeds is like that. No one has a right to sit down and feel hopeless. There is too much work to do.
Dorothy Day
Those who cannot see Christ in the poor are atheists indeed.
Dorothy Day
If I have achieved anything in my life it is because I have not been embarrassed
to talk about God.
Dorothy Day
Don’t call me a saint. I don’t want to be dismissed so easily.
Dorothy Day