Last night I watched the Martin Doblmeier film on Dorothy Day, a radical pacifist and founder along with Peter Maurin of the Catholic Worker houses, places to house and feed the poor. Entitled “Revolution of the Heart,” the film explores the life of this extraordinary woman who lived her life according to the Gospel.
Originally a journalist who lived a Bohemian lifestyle in New York, Day created the Catholic Worker during the depression to call attention to the plight of the poor. Her first issue was about migrant farm workers; she went on to focus on unemployment and its consequences, joined marches protesting government policies, and opposed war in all its forms, even American involvement in World War II.
She was not an easy person, but she was demanding not only of others but of herself. Her Catholicism was the foundation of her radical social activity. The film includes interviews with theologians and two granddaughters. Very few of us could live the kind of life she did but she makes all of us stop and think about what it means to follow the teachings of Jesus.
Prayer for the Day
Give us models for our lives we pray, O God,
But not those who make us question the way we live;
Give us saints who call us to consider our voiced commitment,
But have them belonging to another time, not our own.
We chafe at your Gospel demands, softening its edges.
But we know they are still relevant today.
In the name of the One who extended mercy to all,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
The world would be better off if people tried to become better, and peole would become better if they stopped trying to become better off.
- Peter Maurin, Catholic worker organizer (1877-1949)
The greatest challenge of the day is how to bring about a revolution of the heart, a revolution that has to start with each one of us.
- Dorothy Day, radical activist, Catholic Worker movement (1897-1980)
God has told you, O mortal, what is good: and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8