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Reflections During Advent, Week Four: Obedience

Dorothy DayByDorothy Day

Summary: Ponders the relationship between freedom and authority, faith and obedience. Uses her conversion and starting of the Catholic Worker as examples of conscience and the great freedom of the laity. Cites various authorities and the example of Pope John XXIII on freedom and obedience. Ultimately, links obedience to love and her faith. Repeats the need to “search the Scriptures” and to achieve a “second conversion” to the faith. (DDLW #562). Ave Maria, December 17, 1966, pp. 20-23.

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Reflections During Advent, Week Three: Chastity

Dorothy DayByDorothy Day

Summary: Paints a picture of chastity as “a positive virtue, a strength and a power in the great world around us” through personal stories, and quotes from literature, scripture, and spiritual writers. The marriage act is compared to love and union with God. Speaks of chosen and unchosen celibacy. Extols friendship, community, and the need to express tenderness. Other keywords: sex, abortion, purity, new morality (DDLW #561). Ave Maria, December 10, 1966, pp. 19-21.

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Reflections During Advent, Week Two: The Meaning of Poverty

Dorothy DayByDorothy Day

Summary: Gives examples of false voluntary poverty and refutes the notion that real poverty doesn’t exist. Challenges everyone to a personal response, not a government one, to poverty and to ask ourselves “What shall we do?” Gives examples and concludes that all can do something and that whatever work of mercy we perform we “do it for love of Jesus, in His humanity, for love of our brother, for love of our enemy.” Points to the scandal of the wealth of the Church and thanks God for the sacraments and the Word in the Scriptures–our light and our food. (DDLW #560). Ave Maria, December 3, 1966, pp.21-22, 29.

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Reflections for Advent, Week One: Searching for Christ

Dorothy DayByDorothy Day

Summary: Commenting on the riches and turbulence in an era of renewal of the Church, she decides to write about Mary in her life. Traces her early religious experiences, tells what led her to God, and recounts the gift of a rosary and a statue of Mary. Appreciates the physical and sensual aspects of prayer and relates the mysteries of the rosary to life experiences. Tells of other Marian prayers said at the Catholic Worker and Mary’s role in bringing us to Christ. (DDLW #559). Ave Maria, November 26, 1966, pp. 8-9.

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On Pilgrimage (October/November 1966)

Dorothy DayByDorothy Day

Summary: Reveals that a pilgrimage in September 1932 to the shrine of the Jesuit martyrs and her later prayer for a vocation at the Blessed mother shrine combined to draw Peter Maurin to her. Resolves to halt travelling to complete writing assignments after two speaking engagements already agreed to. Notes the first wedding of a grand child and death of her brother Donald. Notes the sadness of November with nature dying around us until we rise again. (DDLW #845). The Catholic Worker, October-November 1966, 2, 7.

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Fall Appeal (October/November 1966)

Dorothy DayByDorothy Day

Summary: She asks for help–“It is hard to be a beggar.” Admires the voluntary poverty of St. Francis, Gandhi, and Peter Maurin. In contrast, the “destitute and dissolute” are often despised as “bums” in the city and we fail to see “the sacred element in every human being.” (Simone Weil) (DDLW #844). The Catholic Worker, October-November 1966, 2.

 

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Joe Cotter Dies

Dorothy DayByDorothy Day

Summary: An obituary for Joe Cotter, a long-time guest at Catholic Worker farms. Appreciates his hard work, compassion, live of beauty, poverty, and suffering. “Pray for us, Joe, that we may, as you did, ‘take up the cross, deny ourselves daily, to follow Him, Jesus.’” (DDLW #842). The Catholic Worker, July-August 1966, 6.

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On Pilgrimage (June 1966)

Dorothy DayByDorothy Day

Summary: Reflections on some Catholic Workers being jailed for civil disobedience, visiting the prisoner, and the folly of the cross. Recalls the death of the Rosenbergs and notes new evidence that is surfacing. Includes notes from a visit to her daughter and grandchildren in Vermont. Says the arms race is insanity. Keywords: anarchy, prison, civil rights (DDLW #840). The Catholic Worker, June 1966, 2, 6, 8.

 

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On Pilgrimage (May 1966)

Dorothy DayByDorothy Day

Summary: Recalls Peter Maurin’s philosophy of poverty and of work on this May Day issue of the paper. Grouses about old cars. Admires the Bill and Dorothy Gauchet’s hospitality to disabled and unwanted children. Laments the evils of the war in Vietnam. Praises the radical social critique of Saul Alinsky. Participates in a conference on nonviolence. Praises Cesar Chavez and the updates readers on the farm workers’ strike. (DDLW #839). The Catholic Worker, May 1966, 2, 6, 8.

 

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On Pilgrimage (March 1966)

Dorothy DayByDorothy Day

Summary: Admits “rambling” about her grandchildren, her reading habits, and books she recommends before getting to the point–“I am afraid I am a traditionalist.” She reaffirms her high regard for the liturgical movement and the Mass, objecting to an incident where a coffee cup is used for a chalice. She speaks of CW conflicts and the ongoing struggle of freedom and authority. (DDLW #249: The Catholic Worker, March 1966, 1, 2, 6, 8.)

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The Organizer

Dorothy DayByDorothy Day

Summary: A chronicle of the life of Cesar Chavez and his organizing work with the National Farm Workers Association. Admires his commitment to nonviolence, religious and moral values, and “hope and faith animated by love.” Says he is a man of vision and experience. Notes the CW’s long-time coverage of agricultural worker struggles. (DDLW #831). The Catholic Worker, February 1966, 1, 6.