What Dorothy Day Learned from St. Thérèse of Lisieux

Dorothy Day changed my life! In fact, she’s still changing it, many years later. Dorothy Day: Spiritual Writings (edited by Robert Ellsberg and published by Orbis) changed it still further. Ellsberg has arranged some of her many writings by subject, beginning with “The Word Made Flesh” and continuing through eleven sections, ending with “Revolution of the Heart.” All of her writings are good, and the sections of her diary where she laments her sins were especially interesting. But this time, I was struck by her frequent references to the book she wrote about St. Thérèse of Lisieux.

I confess I had never before considered it, as I didn’t see what she and Dorothy Day had in common, but this time, it hit me! She loved that saint and even wrote a book about her. Ellsberg titled the fifth chapter “The Little Way,” and in it, Day discusses why she wrote a book about St. Thérèse. Dorothy read the autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux when she was first converted and was not impressed with this “little flower” who died in an obscure French convent when she was only twenty-four. At that time, Dorothy preferred spectacular saints such as St. Joan of Arc. But that changed as she gained experience as a leader of the Catholic Worker movement. She came to see that each sacrifice, done in the name of love and in the presence of God—St. Thérèse’s teaching—would increase love throughout the world. Even sacrifices that appeared ineffective would be like small pebbles that cause ripples capable of transforming the world.

Finally, Dorothy spent some years writing a book about St. Thérèse, showing that everything we do matters and that damping down our resentment and disappointment (daily occurrences in any house of hospitality) is truly transformative. I realized that these teachings can work in families and other communities as well.

St. Thérèse died in 1897 and was canonized very soon afterward, in 1925. As Dorothy read more about her, she realized that it was the workers who canonized her and spread her fame through many books and shrines.

St. Thérèse frequently said, “All is grace,” and Dorothy began to feel it as well. She wrote a book about her, Thérèse, and began to live her teachings, offering up all the thousands of distractions that happen when one serves the lonely, poor, and decrepit, as she did. Dorothy learned to offer up her suffering, as Thérèse did. Thérèse suffered mightily in her illness, and Dorothy came to rejoice in what she called her petty suffering. Thus, she grew closer to Thérèse and strove to love everyone, without regard for their goodness.

As Dorothy wrote about her, she came to believe that the spiritual weapons we all have at our disposal are more powerful than nuclear bombs. She learned that if we do everything for and in the presence of God, our entire life becomes prayer. So I will definitely read her Thérèse and hope it brings me closer to God.

---