Dorothy Day: Spiritual Writings

by Dorothy Day, Robert Ellsberg (editor)

Dorothy Day (1897-1980), co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement, has recently been proposed for canonization. Through her houses of hospitality, the practice of the works of mercy, and her prophetic work for peace and justice, she offered a radical witness to the gospel in action. But it was as much in her everyday life as in her public activities that she expressed her spirituality and found her path to holiness.

This anthology explores the key themes that underlay her spirituality, beginning with the call to see Christ in the poor. Day’s spirituality was deeply influenced by the “Little Way” of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, which showed the path to holiness in the daily exercise of patience, charity, and forgiveness. Dorothy extended this principle to the social dimension, the significance of the little protests we make or fail to make. She believed that each act of love, each witness for peace, increases the balance of love and peace in the world.

264 pages, Paperback

Published November 20, 2024

About the author

Dorothy Day was an American journalist, social activist and anarchist who, after a bohemian youth, became a Catholic Christian without in any way abandoning her social and anarchist activism. She was perhaps the best-known political radical in the American Catholic Church. In the 1930s, Day worked closely with fellow activist Peter Maurin to establish the Catholic Worker movement, a nonviolent, pacifist movement that continues to combine direct aid for the poor and homeless with nonviolent direct action on their behalf.

A revered figure within the U.S. Catholic community, Day's cause for canonization was recently open by the Catholic Church.

Reviews

[Renée · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection has become my new recommendation for folks who want to get to know Dorothy and her thought better. It’s an introduction to the foundation of her spirituality and the theology of her movement. Her favorite aphorisms and quotes are sprinkled through the book like antiphons: John of the Cross’ “where there is no love, put love, and you will find love”; Ignatius’ “Love is an exchange of gifts”; Catherine of Siena’s “All the way to heaven is heaven”; and her spiritual concerns: God using our loaves and fishes rather than our riches and successes; seeing and loving the Christ in others; grappling with voluntary poverty; Thérèse’s Little Way; and finding delight and joy in all things, because we are loved and part of a beautiful world made by a loving God, even while decrying a broken and evil system.
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Her reflections on practicing the work of mercy of “visiting the imprisoned” through her own imprisonment were some of my favorites, as well as her Carolyn Keene moment creating a column authored by the beggar saint “Ben Joe Labray” and the Brooklyn church that took offense.
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A great read to carry with you through the year or read at bedtime, or, of course, in the morning with psalms and coffee, a la Dorothy.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good collection of the writings of Dorothy Day on spiritual topics. Gives a good survey of the spiritual foundation for her founding of the Catholic Worker movement and her subsequent life caring for the poor probably best for those already broadly familiar with the outline of Day’s life. If you’re unfamiliar with Day, I’d suggest you start with one of her two autobiographies, either The Long Loneliness or From Union Square to Rome.

[David Doel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anything written by Dorothy Day is worth reading. This volume includes snippets of her work ranging from articles in The Catholic Worker, journal entries, excerpts from her autobiographies, and I've probably left something out. The pieces are uneven; the best are excellent, but many are not. Dorothy Day is long overdue for sainthood!