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The Reckless Way of Love: Notes on Following Jesus
In this guidebook Dorothy Day offers hard-earned wisdom and practical advice gained through decades of seeking to know Jesus and to follow his example and teachings in her own life.
Unlike larger collections and biographies, which cover her radical views, exceptional deeds, and amazing life story, this book focuses on a more personal dimension of her life: Where did she receive strength to stay true to her God-given calling despite her own doubts and inadequacies and the demands of an activist life? What was the unquenchable wellspring of her deep faith and her love for humanity?
Unlike larger collections and biographies, which cover her radical views, exceptional deeds, and amazing life story, this book focuses on a more personal dimension of her life: Where did she receive strength to stay true to her God-given calling despite her own doubts and inadequacies and the demands of an activist life? What was the unquenchable wellspring of her deep faith and her love for humanity?
128 pages, Paperback
Published March 1, 2017
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1433 people want to read
About the author
Dorothy Day
71 books253 followersDorothy 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.
A revered figure within the U.S. Catholic community, Day's cause for canonization was recently open by the Catholic Church.
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May 22, 2025
Nobody really likes to follow Christ, at the beginning.
Too much pain and embarrassment; too many voices of dissent cajoling you to follow a more comfortable version of Christianity.
But, fact is, we have come to a place where life just hurts too much. We want a way out.
And our comforts have curdled.
So Dorothy Day followed Christ. In such a way that her raging altruism is way too over the top for us, to this day. It makes us squirm.
Ms Day didn't mind.
She had known too many sleepless nights of bouncing the facts of life around ceaselessly with her boyfriend, Eugene O'Neill (see his plays, such as the inimitable Long Day's Journey into Night), in her cold-water flat.
He Fed Dorothy's Heart during those nights. Strangely, it led her right into the embrace of the Church. And she blossomed.
She was home.
I will tell you WHY she came home to Christ. I believe that, beyond this book, it was because of O'Neill's Pessimism.
Pessimistic Christians believe in final judgement. They don't think the comfortably converted are any more worthy of our charity than is preaching to the converted. What about the penniless poor?
Look. Sh*t happens. Anyone can fall between the cracks and not get out again, Anytime. So why not preach first to the poor and dispossessed?
***
You see, there's just too much pain in this world...
As you may know, I am not neurotypical like most folks. I am an imprisoned Aspie, trapped in an Aspie's box. Like the poor are trapped.
The neurotyical box doesn't fit me. So the only real love I know is a Crucified Love, by Christ's side.
Like the poor good thief.
Like him I am now impoverished
But I Believe! Even as Paul did...
With a sense of inner guilt.
***
We are forced to do something about the crucified poor - unless we are trapped in "all our (comfortable) yesterdays (which) guide (us) fools the way to dusty death."
Why not set ourselves free as well?
Be reckless.
Follow Love!
The Real Thing...
Love that Hurts.
Too much pain and embarrassment; too many voices of dissent cajoling you to follow a more comfortable version of Christianity.
But, fact is, we have come to a place where life just hurts too much. We want a way out.
And our comforts have curdled.
So Dorothy Day followed Christ. In such a way that her raging altruism is way too over the top for us, to this day. It makes us squirm.
Ms Day didn't mind.
She had known too many sleepless nights of bouncing the facts of life around ceaselessly with her boyfriend, Eugene O'Neill (see his plays, such as the inimitable Long Day's Journey into Night), in her cold-water flat.
He Fed Dorothy's Heart during those nights. Strangely, it led her right into the embrace of the Church. And she blossomed.
She was home.
I will tell you WHY she came home to Christ. I believe that, beyond this book, it was because of O'Neill's Pessimism.
Pessimistic Christians believe in final judgement. They don't think the comfortably converted are any more worthy of our charity than is preaching to the converted. What about the penniless poor?
Look. Sh*t happens. Anyone can fall between the cracks and not get out again, Anytime. So why not preach first to the poor and dispossessed?
***
You see, there's just too much pain in this world...
As you may know, I am not neurotypical like most folks. I am an imprisoned Aspie, trapped in an Aspie's box. Like the poor are trapped.
The neurotyical box doesn't fit me. So the only real love I know is a Crucified Love, by Christ's side.
Like the poor good thief.
Like him I am now impoverished
But I Believe! Even as Paul did...
With a sense of inner guilt.
***
We are forced to do something about the crucified poor - unless we are trapped in "all our (comfortable) yesterdays (which) guide (us) fools the way to dusty death."
Why not set ourselves free as well?
Be reckless.
Follow Love!
The Real Thing...
Love that Hurts.
April 24, 2017
A Chicken Soup for the Soul for those who find the real Chicken Soup for the Soul too sweet to stomach. This one has a lot more vinegar in it. I like vinegar.
The affirmations, when they come, sound like this: “Why should we try to see results? It is enough to keep on in the face of defeat” (p. 76). If sentiments like that don't keep the lights on for you, I can't blame you, but it's reassuring for me to know that people who did a truckload of good in this world spent a great deal of time wrestling with the suspicion that it all really didn't make any difference.
Some of the most enjoyable bits to read are short passages when she writes about ordinary life, like the joy she gets from a park or an infuriating (for me, not Day) episode when a bitter old alcoholic whom Day had previously helped calls the police on her. Each episode seems to have a little point to it, but it's not too overbearingly preachy. I also liked the passage when she talked about the spontaneous displays of friendliness and generosity she saw as a child when living just outside San Francisco at the time of 1906 earthquake, which broke down barriers between neighbors. Why can't we just act like that all the time? Day seems to be asking.
Day appeals to me because I often find it difficult to maintain interest in more conventional books about spirituality, which frequently contain dull but worthy ideas from some still-living professor of theology. Day's go-to quotes about her spiritual experience come not from somebody's sermon, but from The Stranger, The Brothers Karamazov, or The Screwtape Letters. I guess I like this partly due to intellectual vanity, but any spiritual lesson I get should have stunning turn of phrase from great wordsmith, because I have a tiny attention span and also forget things easily.
Day not only wants to down on your knees praying regularly with sincerity and enthusiasm, but she also wants you – especially when you feel exhausted – stick around in the office after you had planned to go home and clean two rooms, so the maid won't have to work so hard that evening. This is not Sunday-only faith for dilettantes. If you're not pushing yourself to do the dullest and least rewarding act for people whom, if they find out what you are doing, are likely to be ungrateful, then you're doing it wrong.
This book is also 130 pages and in a little square format. This is, I guess, to encourage you – even in the age of smart phones – to stuff it into the pocket of your sport jacket, or perhaps your purse. Of course, where I live it's usually too hot to wear a sport jacket and I am much, MUCH too manly to carry a purse. (This? It's a “messenger bag”, dammit, and wipe that smirk off your head.)
The book is also mentioned at the end of an entertaining article in the March 2017 edition of The Atlantic here. The article is mainly a review of a new biography written by Day's granddaughter Kate Hennessey, Dorothy Day; The World Will Be Saved By Beauty: An Intimate Portrait of Dorothy Day.
Won in a Goodreads giveaway – thanks for the free stuff!
The affirmations, when they come, sound like this: “Why should we try to see results? It is enough to keep on in the face of defeat” (p. 76). If sentiments like that don't keep the lights on for you, I can't blame you, but it's reassuring for me to know that people who did a truckload of good in this world spent a great deal of time wrestling with the suspicion that it all really didn't make any difference.
Some of the most enjoyable bits to read are short passages when she writes about ordinary life, like the joy she gets from a park or an infuriating (for me, not Day) episode when a bitter old alcoholic whom Day had previously helped calls the police on her. Each episode seems to have a little point to it, but it's not too overbearingly preachy. I also liked the passage when she talked about the spontaneous displays of friendliness and generosity she saw as a child when living just outside San Francisco at the time of 1906 earthquake, which broke down barriers between neighbors. Why can't we just act like that all the time? Day seems to be asking.
Day appeals to me because I often find it difficult to maintain interest in more conventional books about spirituality, which frequently contain dull but worthy ideas from some still-living professor of theology. Day's go-to quotes about her spiritual experience come not from somebody's sermon, but from The Stranger, The Brothers Karamazov, or The Screwtape Letters. I guess I like this partly due to intellectual vanity, but any spiritual lesson I get should have stunning turn of phrase from great wordsmith, because I have a tiny attention span and also forget things easily.
Day not only wants to down on your knees praying regularly with sincerity and enthusiasm, but she also wants you – especially when you feel exhausted – stick around in the office after you had planned to go home and clean two rooms, so the maid won't have to work so hard that evening. This is not Sunday-only faith for dilettantes. If you're not pushing yourself to do the dullest and least rewarding act for people whom, if they find out what you are doing, are likely to be ungrateful, then you're doing it wrong.
This book is also 130 pages and in a little square format. This is, I guess, to encourage you – even in the age of smart phones – to stuff it into the pocket of your sport jacket, or perhaps your purse. Of course, where I live it's usually too hot to wear a sport jacket and I am much, MUCH too manly to carry a purse. (This? It's a “messenger bag”, dammit, and wipe that smirk off your head.)
The book is also mentioned at the end of an entertaining article in the March 2017 edition of The Atlantic here. The article is mainly a review of a new biography written by Day's granddaughter Kate Hennessey, Dorothy Day; The World Will Be Saved By Beauty: An Intimate Portrait of Dorothy Day.
Won in a Goodreads giveaway – thanks for the free stuff!
March 7, 2025
I’m actually sort of glad that busyness with school work made me push off finishing this till now because lent is the perfect season for this. I can’t express how grateful I am that Dorothy Day loved to process her life through writing so that I am able to be so changed. I am always so humbled reading her work, but it’s the most joyful humility I’ve ever felt. It’s like I am once again being reminded I am a hypocrite and it’s the happiest experience of my life because it redirects me away from the way I live to the beautiful life of giving that I want to live. I know I will fail at it every day that I try, but I pray I can be half as generous and faithful as Dorothy because then I will be at least a fraction of a 1/4 closer to being like Jesus.
March 7, 2017
An intimate glimpse into Dorothy Day's stream of consciousness, this book is a collection of often random sentences and paragraphs on a variety of ideas and questions that informed Day's devotion to God and her daily choices. It took me perhaps an hour or a little more to read through the book, including its introduction and biographical notes. As someone unfamiliar with Day, footnotes with information pertaining to particular people, places, and events to which she refers would have been helpful, as I was scanning Google at the same time as I attempted to decipher her meaning. If these are all of her writings, that is unfortunate. Her radical willingness to devote herself entirely to her beliefs is intriguing and encouraging, and more of her inner mind would be fascinating to explore. If these are not all of her writings, then I would rather have read a more complete collection. Regardless of these caveats, the brief incursion into her philosophy was powerful and engaging, well worth the hour it took. I would best recommend this as an addition to other, more in-depth works on Dorothy Day.
This book was received as a Goodreads Giveaway.
This book was received as a Goodreads Giveaway.
April 13, 2017
Are we not our brother's and sister's keeper?
One never knows when he/she will be in need of support from another. Often times it is easier for us to give than to receive. It takes humility to ask for help, to ask for prayers, to ask forgiveness.
Dorothy Day gives us insights of her own spiritual journey of giving and receiving. Of letting go of unnecessary attachments.and giving from her substance.
Dorothy shares her own vulnerabilities in following Jesus' path.
Dorothy embraced her humanity, her goodness along with her faults. Removing the log from her own eyes, enabled her to see the soul of the other reflected back to her. No easy task to strip yourself naked and become vulnerable.
"We are all here with each other because we need each other, Those who help and those who are helped". Kiran Yocom.
One never knows when he/she will be in need of support from another. Often times it is easier for us to give than to receive. It takes humility to ask for help, to ask for prayers, to ask forgiveness.
Dorothy Day gives us insights of her own spiritual journey of giving and receiving. Of letting go of unnecessary attachments.and giving from her substance.
Dorothy shares her own vulnerabilities in following Jesus' path.
Dorothy embraced her humanity, her goodness along with her faults. Removing the log from her own eyes, enabled her to see the soul of the other reflected back to her. No easy task to strip yourself naked and become vulnerable.
"We are all here with each other because we need each other, Those who help and those who are helped". Kiran Yocom.
August 24, 2017
I love reading Dorothy Day's thoughts and spiritual musings on various parts of following after Jesus. Although I read this book in bite size pieces--and enjoyed it--I felt like the general flow was a little off. Highly recommend The Long Loneliness first, this book would be best for someone who is already familiar with her story and the Catholic Worker.
June 13, 2025
Cool to read some Day while living at Annunciation House. The way of life here is very much inspired by her and the Catholic Worker Movement. Christians who hate migrants have a lot to learn from her. Some stuff I underlined:
- “We who think in terms of community at least have the assurance, the conviction, that we are on the right path, going in the right direction, taking the right means to achieve the goal of increased love of God through an increased and proven love of our brothers” (110).
- “We begin to live again each morning. We rise from the dead, the sun rises, spring comes around - there is always that cycle of birth and growth and death, and then resurrection” (102).
- “But a tranquil spirit is important. Saint Teresa says that God cannot rest in an unquiet heart. I have to remember that many times during the day” (75).
- “… I felt the urgent need for faith, but there were too many people passing through my life — too many activities — too much pleasure (not happiness)” (6).
- “Since when are words the only acceptable form of prayer” (43).
- “We who think in terms of community at least have the assurance, the conviction, that we are on the right path, going in the right direction, taking the right means to achieve the goal of increased love of God through an increased and proven love of our brothers” (110).
- “We begin to live again each morning. We rise from the dead, the sun rises, spring comes around - there is always that cycle of birth and growth and death, and then resurrection” (102).
- “But a tranquil spirit is important. Saint Teresa says that God cannot rest in an unquiet heart. I have to remember that many times during the day” (75).
- “… I felt the urgent need for faith, but there were too many people passing through my life — too many activities — too much pleasure (not happiness)” (6).
- “Since when are words the only acceptable form of prayer” (43).
May 7, 2018
Sabbath Book #16 for 2018.
I aspire to poverty, but it crushes me so easily. The anxiety and despair and weakness overwhelm me, so I make concessions. How can one love God enough to be poor, to really be among the poor and to experience faith, hope, and love?
I have not found the answer, at least not in a very thorough way yet. But there is some thought in this book that points in the right direction. I was grateful for Day's wisdom, for her rich reflection on community, for her rejection of superficial answers like self-love and material security.
This collection of her thoughts feels both promising and scattered. It is a collection of excerpts from her work across a fascinating life and journey. It contains tastes of her wisdom, but does not set the table or invite me to the feast.
I'm eager to read her other work, which might be the point of this collection.
I aspire to poverty, but it crushes me so easily. The anxiety and despair and weakness overwhelm me, so I make concessions. How can one love God enough to be poor, to really be among the poor and to experience faith, hope, and love?
I have not found the answer, at least not in a very thorough way yet. But there is some thought in this book that points in the right direction. I was grateful for Day's wisdom, for her rich reflection on community, for her rejection of superficial answers like self-love and material security.
This collection of her thoughts feels both promising and scattered. It is a collection of excerpts from her work across a fascinating life and journey. It contains tastes of her wisdom, but does not set the table or invite me to the feast.
I'm eager to read her other work, which might be the point of this collection.
June 10, 2017
When I indicate that I am 'finished' with this book, that is really not the case. I will continue to go back to excerpts and chapters that I found inspirational. This is a short book containing 'notes' mostly taken from other writings that Dorothy Day produced throughout her life. I was not [still am not] that familiar with her or her life, but what she has written that has been selected for this book has heartened me and impressed me.
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway.
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway.
June 10, 2018
Wow.
What a great book that put together only some of Dorothy Day's writings in a thematic way. I have only read about her in another book, "The Life You Save May Be Your Own," but this was a great little summary about how she thought.
I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting some inspiration to be a great Christian, a great person, a courageous light in bleak scenarios. I found this a great daily reading companion rather than speed read through it.
What a great book that put together only some of Dorothy Day's writings in a thematic way. I have only read about her in another book, "The Life You Save May Be Your Own," but this was a great little summary about how she thought.
I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting some inspiration to be a great Christian, a great person, a courageous light in bleak scenarios. I found this a great daily reading companion rather than speed read through it.
December 4, 2019
This is my third literary encounter with Day, and by far the most affective and moving. A few years ago, I read her autobiography, The Long Loneliness and then a biography about her called All Is Grace: A Biography of Dorothy Day. Despite being left with deep respect for Dorothy's life and legacy, I have to admit both readings left me a bit underwhelmed. I remember both making for quite slow reads, bogged down with an overflow of mundane details that I didn't necessarily find edifying or intriguing. However, in both, there were these glimmering fragments woven throughout that were so compelling. Brilliantly, this small book has compiled Day's writing at its most profound, offering an impressively cohesive distillation of her tremendous wisdom, convicting devotion to justice, and inspiring faith.
Much of Day's writing here is particularly striking in modern times, as our culture has become increasingly polarized and we see reflections of that division within the Church. Though I find it largely untrue, there's a common narrative that contemporary Christians fall into camps and those who are committed to justice are prone to worship that at the expense of prioritizing Jesus. Day's testimony is a striking rebuke to that claim and, more than anything else, inspiration for those looking to find grounding in Christianity as a bedrock of ministries of justice and mercy. It is so beautifully clear that Jesus was the center and root of Day's life and her ardent devotion to Scripture, prayer, communion, and the Church are indisputable. At one point, she writes that, "If an outsider who comes to visit doesn't pay attention to our praying and what that means, then he'll miss the whole point of things," which seems to encapsulate all I've said here.
Something else that stood out while considering the ways her wisdom feels distinct to me as a millennial reader is her almost relentless emphasis on suffering and failure. While I don't want to paint with broad strokes, these certainly don't feel "in vogue" right now, and to some they're almost anathema. I want to be careful not to knock the zeitgeist too hard as I see critical wisdom and value in it, but in an era that's emphasizing the necessity of self-care and pleasure as the sustaining necessity for ongoing justice work, it's fascinating to see how utterly irrelevant Day seemed to regard those and know she endured in the work for so long. At times she confesses to indulging in the perverse joy of martyrdom, but beneath that I think she also articulates a mystical embrace of suffering as an inevitable reality that unites her with both the poor she wants to love and the Jesus she wants to love more wholly. Similar to my feelings when reading Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta, there's a part of me that wants to ask why Dorothy doesn't feel able to pursue the flourishing for her own life she surely wants for others, but I also notice something freeing in the soft fatalism that she exhibits. When suffering is necessary and failure is an inevitable constant reality, one's freed to carry on in the work without regard for the ups and downs of the day to day, and there's something really significant there.
In fact, that's one of the things most striking about Dorothy's theology and convictions. The destination is far less critical than the steps taken to get there; the present moment seems to matter much more than the future one. This is expressed briefly when she writes, "Patience means suffering and suffering is spiritual work, and it is accomplishing something though we don't realize it till later. It is part of our education, or pilgrimage to heaven. By it we keep in mind that all the way to heaven is heaven." A bit later on, describing the sense of community she witnessed after an earthquake struck her hometown, she writes, "I wanted life and I wanted the abundant life. I wanted it for others, too. ... I wanted everyone to be kind. I wanted every home to be open to the lame, the halt, and the blind, the way it had been after the San Francisco earthquake. Only then did people really live, really love their brothers. In such love was the abundant life..." I haven't stopped thinking of that since I read it: For Day, the abundant life wasn't on-hold until after everything had been rebuilt and restored, but rather it was made manifest because of the crisis at hand and the sense of compassionate, solidaristic community it inspired. And in modern times, where it often feels like there's more urgency than ever to see progress and social change (with good reason...), it seems to me that Day's encouragement to open ourselves up to suffering rather than flee from it and even embrace what arises from it as a doorway into abundance is more critical than ever.
Much of Day's writing here is particularly striking in modern times, as our culture has become increasingly polarized and we see reflections of that division within the Church. Though I find it largely untrue, there's a common narrative that contemporary Christians fall into camps and those who are committed to justice are prone to worship that at the expense of prioritizing Jesus. Day's testimony is a striking rebuke to that claim and, more than anything else, inspiration for those looking to find grounding in Christianity as a bedrock of ministries of justice and mercy. It is so beautifully clear that Jesus was the center and root of Day's life and her ardent devotion to Scripture, prayer, communion, and the Church are indisputable. At one point, she writes that, "If an outsider who comes to visit doesn't pay attention to our praying and what that means, then he'll miss the whole point of things," which seems to encapsulate all I've said here.
Something else that stood out while considering the ways her wisdom feels distinct to me as a millennial reader is her almost relentless emphasis on suffering and failure. While I don't want to paint with broad strokes, these certainly don't feel "in vogue" right now, and to some they're almost anathema. I want to be careful not to knock the zeitgeist too hard as I see critical wisdom and value in it, but in an era that's emphasizing the necessity of self-care and pleasure as the sustaining necessity for ongoing justice work, it's fascinating to see how utterly irrelevant Day seemed to regard those and know she endured in the work for so long. At times she confesses to indulging in the perverse joy of martyrdom, but beneath that I think she also articulates a mystical embrace of suffering as an inevitable reality that unites her with both the poor she wants to love and the Jesus she wants to love more wholly. Similar to my feelings when reading Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta, there's a part of me that wants to ask why Dorothy doesn't feel able to pursue the flourishing for her own life she surely wants for others, but I also notice something freeing in the soft fatalism that she exhibits. When suffering is necessary and failure is an inevitable constant reality, one's freed to carry on in the work without regard for the ups and downs of the day to day, and there's something really significant there.
In fact, that's one of the things most striking about Dorothy's theology and convictions. The destination is far less critical than the steps taken to get there; the present moment seems to matter much more than the future one. This is expressed briefly when she writes, "Patience means suffering and suffering is spiritual work, and it is accomplishing something though we don't realize it till later. It is part of our education, or pilgrimage to heaven. By it we keep in mind that all the way to heaven is heaven." A bit later on, describing the sense of community she witnessed after an earthquake struck her hometown, she writes, "I wanted life and I wanted the abundant life. I wanted it for others, too. ... I wanted everyone to be kind. I wanted every home to be open to the lame, the halt, and the blind, the way it had been after the San Francisco earthquake. Only then did people really live, really love their brothers. In such love was the abundant life..." I haven't stopped thinking of that since I read it: For Day, the abundant life wasn't on-hold until after everything had been rebuilt and restored, but rather it was made manifest because of the crisis at hand and the sense of compassionate, solidaristic community it inspired. And in modern times, where it often feels like there's more urgency than ever to see progress and social change (with good reason...), it seems to me that Day's encouragement to open ourselves up to suffering rather than flee from it and even embrace what arises from it as a doorway into abundance is more critical than ever.
May 15, 2017
"We cannot love God unless we love each other, and to love we must know each other."
My mother-in-law gave this book- perfect for Lent. I loved it and know that I will re read parts of it over and over gain.
My mother-in-law gave this book- perfect for Lent. I loved it and know that I will re read parts of it over and over gain.
December 5, 2023
This book was recommended highly by another reading friend and full of her additional thoughts with underlined sections and other markers. I've been using it gradually during morning devotions and had not previously heard of Dorothy Day. She was an activist who served the poor and the founder of the Catholic Worker Movement. What struck me most, while reading her thoughts on how she carried out her life's mission, was that life in community is messy but to serve the poor is to serve Jesus. She adds, "if Christians tended to be hypocrites, that was not Jesus' fault." She encouraged a life of following Jesus as the way of love and helping those in need with the same spirit, lacking bitterness or resentment.
August 28, 2018
Summary: A collection of Dorothy Day's writings on following Jesus in the ways of faith, love, prayer, life, and community.
One thinks of Dorothy Day as an activist writer and advocate for the poor, running homes of hospitality, communes, and getting arrested even in her seventies. What is less apparent is the deep spirituality that sustained her activism. This book, one of Plough's Spiritual Guides, distills writings from her different books that cumulatively describe the ordinary life of following Jesus among the poor.
The excerpts are organized around five "ways" or themes: of faith, of love, of prayer, of life, and of community.
In the chapters on faith, we encounter both her implicit belief in the mysteries of the faith and the sacraments, and yet her struggle to trust and depend in the welter of daily interactions and work. She writes,
"I suppose it is a grace not to be able to have time to take or derive satisfaction in the work we are doing. In what time I have, my impulse is to self-criticism and examination of conscience, and I am constantly humiliated at my own imperfections and at my halting progress. Perhaps I deceive myself here, too, and excuse my lack of recollection. But I do know how small I am and how little I can do and I beg you, Lord, to help me, for I cannot help myself" (pp. 14-15).
Often, Day's reflections come with pithy challenges. We see the intensity of her love for God and the wonder that God sets his love on the likes of us and then observes, "It is a terrible thought--'we love God as much as the one we love the least' " (p.36). Or she surprises us with her breaks with convention such as when she writes on prayer: "I do not have to retire to my room to pray. It is enough to get out and walk in the wilderness of the streets" (p. 44).
"The way of life" reminds us "never to get discouraged at the slowness of people or results" (p. 63). She writes of deepening perceptions of unworldly justice that does not seek its own, that for a Christian social order, "we must first have Christians" (p.66), and how, apart from the light of Christ, we often do not know ourselves or our secret sins. She writes at length on the indispensable role of suffering in our lives.
The final portion focuses on life in community. Day writes of efforts in community with grittiness and realism. Disappointments. Betrayals. Plain hard work and long hours. Yet even so, she longs for bigger houses, more room for discussions, a library, "a Christ room." She recognizes desperately her need for the presence of God in all the ordinary places. In the end, it is community that addresses our desolation. She concludes, "We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community" (p. 120).
This is the second book in the Spiritual Guides series I've reviewed, the earlier being The Scandal of Redemption by Oscar Romero. These are small books only in size. Each is well-edited by Carolyn Kurtz. This, in particular, required culling passages from a number of Day's works along each of the themes into coherent chapters. Eye-catching cover art, end papers, and typography make these delightful books to hold and read.
I found myself often mulling over a single line, such as this one: "We have the greatest weapons in the world, greater than any hydrogen or atom bomb, and they are the weapons of poverty and prayer, fasting and alms, the reckless spending of ourselves in God's service and for his poor" (p.69). I mused again and again what a different face Christians would present to the world if we lived as Day did rather than jockeying for positions and influence and concealing our flawed character rather than exposing it to the grace of God. Reading Day gives me hope that ordinary Christians with all our flaws and struggles may yet walk the ways of faith, hope, and love, offering something beautiful for God and to the world.
____________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
One thinks of Dorothy Day as an activist writer and advocate for the poor, running homes of hospitality, communes, and getting arrested even in her seventies. What is less apparent is the deep spirituality that sustained her activism. This book, one of Plough's Spiritual Guides, distills writings from her different books that cumulatively describe the ordinary life of following Jesus among the poor.
The excerpts are organized around five "ways" or themes: of faith, of love, of prayer, of life, and of community.
In the chapters on faith, we encounter both her implicit belief in the mysteries of the faith and the sacraments, and yet her struggle to trust and depend in the welter of daily interactions and work. She writes,
"I suppose it is a grace not to be able to have time to take or derive satisfaction in the work we are doing. In what time I have, my impulse is to self-criticism and examination of conscience, and I am constantly humiliated at my own imperfections and at my halting progress. Perhaps I deceive myself here, too, and excuse my lack of recollection. But I do know how small I am and how little I can do and I beg you, Lord, to help me, for I cannot help myself" (pp. 14-15).
Often, Day's reflections come with pithy challenges. We see the intensity of her love for God and the wonder that God sets his love on the likes of us and then observes, "It is a terrible thought--'we love God as much as the one we love the least' " (p.36). Or she surprises us with her breaks with convention such as when she writes on prayer: "I do not have to retire to my room to pray. It is enough to get out and walk in the wilderness of the streets" (p. 44).
"The way of life" reminds us "never to get discouraged at the slowness of people or results" (p. 63). She writes of deepening perceptions of unworldly justice that does not seek its own, that for a Christian social order, "we must first have Christians" (p.66), and how, apart from the light of Christ, we often do not know ourselves or our secret sins. She writes at length on the indispensable role of suffering in our lives.
The final portion focuses on life in community. Day writes of efforts in community with grittiness and realism. Disappointments. Betrayals. Plain hard work and long hours. Yet even so, she longs for bigger houses, more room for discussions, a library, "a Christ room." She recognizes desperately her need for the presence of God in all the ordinary places. In the end, it is community that addresses our desolation. She concludes, "We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community" (p. 120).
This is the second book in the Spiritual Guides series I've reviewed, the earlier being The Scandal of Redemption by Oscar Romero. These are small books only in size. Each is well-edited by Carolyn Kurtz. This, in particular, required culling passages from a number of Day's works along each of the themes into coherent chapters. Eye-catching cover art, end papers, and typography make these delightful books to hold and read.
I found myself often mulling over a single line, such as this one: "We have the greatest weapons in the world, greater than any hydrogen or atom bomb, and they are the weapons of poverty and prayer, fasting and alms, the reckless spending of ourselves in God's service and for his poor" (p.69). I mused again and again what a different face Christians would present to the world if we lived as Day did rather than jockeying for positions and influence and concealing our flawed character rather than exposing it to the grace of God. Reading Day gives me hope that ordinary Christians with all our flaws and struggles may yet walk the ways of faith, hope, and love, offering something beautiful for God and to the world.
____________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
December 26, 2018
In the first place, you really can't go wrong reading a book about or by Dorothy Day. And this one happens to be a hybrid of both - but mainly a collection of Dorothy's musings on love.
In the second place, D.L. Mayfield's introduction is a really good one. Mayfield is herself an accomplished writer (ASSIMILATE OR GO HOME) who, like Dorothy, writes from experience.
Here's a great bit from Mayfield's introduction:
"Robert Coles remembers how, the first time he met Dorothy, she was chatting with an intoxicated older woman. She looked up and saw Coles waiting and asked him, 'Were you waiting to talk to one of us?' Already quite famous, she didn't assume Coles wanted to talk to her more than he might want to talk to her neighbor. With that simple question, Coles says, 'she cut through layers of self-importance, a lifetime of bourgeois privilege, and scraped the hard bone of pride.'"
In her lifetime Dorothy Day was intensely focused on showing love while engaged in radical acts of social justice. She was just as intensely honest.
Here's a sample: "It would be better still to love rather than to write about it. It would be more convincing."
Thinking back on her pre-Catholic Worker life, amongst the bohemians of her day, she wrote: "The longer I live, the more I see God at work in people who don't have the slightest interest in religion and never read the Bible and wouldn't know what to do if they were persuaded to go inside a church. I always knew how much I admired certain men and women (my "radical friends") who were giving up their lives to help others get a better break; but now I realize how spiritual some of them were, and I'm ashamed of myself for not realizing that long ago, when I was with them, talking and having supper and making our plans, as we did."
Finally, kudos must go out to Carolyn Kurtz of Plough Publishing House, for her magnificent editing of this collection.
In the second place, D.L. Mayfield's introduction is a really good one. Mayfield is herself an accomplished writer (ASSIMILATE OR GO HOME) who, like Dorothy, writes from experience.
Here's a great bit from Mayfield's introduction:
"Robert Coles remembers how, the first time he met Dorothy, she was chatting with an intoxicated older woman. She looked up and saw Coles waiting and asked him, 'Were you waiting to talk to one of us?' Already quite famous, she didn't assume Coles wanted to talk to her more than he might want to talk to her neighbor. With that simple question, Coles says, 'she cut through layers of self-importance, a lifetime of bourgeois privilege, and scraped the hard bone of pride.'"
In her lifetime Dorothy Day was intensely focused on showing love while engaged in radical acts of social justice. She was just as intensely honest.
Here's a sample: "It would be better still to love rather than to write about it. It would be more convincing."
Thinking back on her pre-Catholic Worker life, amongst the bohemians of her day, she wrote: "The longer I live, the more I see God at work in people who don't have the slightest interest in religion and never read the Bible and wouldn't know what to do if they were persuaded to go inside a church. I always knew how much I admired certain men and women (my "radical friends") who were giving up their lives to help others get a better break; but now I realize how spiritual some of them were, and I'm ashamed of myself for not realizing that long ago, when I was with them, talking and having supper and making our plans, as we did."
Finally, kudos must go out to Carolyn Kurtz of Plough Publishing House, for her magnificent editing of this collection.
March 3, 2018
Portable inspiration for radical Catholics.
This is a collection of assorted writings and musings from the Catholic Church's most bad-ass, underappreciated woman. Much like Mother Theresa, she gave over her entire life to the poor. Unlike her colleague, however, Day had a wild past, and committed some "sins" that "nice" people would rather not bring up. Thus, if you're Catholic, you either discover Day by accident or not at all.
If you're a leftist, however, her name has probably come up once or twice, and with no "sin" baggage attached either, leaving you free to explore these writings without judgment, if you choose. Though seemingly a paradox, Day saw no conflict between her faith and her politics, and saw the practice of mutual aid as the natural fulfillment of gospel commands.
So, basically, you have to be a Catholic leftist to really appreciate this, or at least a leftist who hasn't been so traumatized by organized religion that you can't handle any talk of the divine. Its pocket-size makes it a better personal gift than a library pick, but if you've already got it, you don't have to weed it; it's sure to offend somebody, and a great library, as we often say around here, has something in it to offend everyone.
Like Day, I'm pretty much a neither-nor / both-and kind of person, so I took a great deal of comfort from these words, even while disagreeing heartily with many of them. Had somebody told me about her sooner, I might very well still be Catholic; as it is, however, I was happy to spend a few quiet hours with a woman who practiced what she preached, took joy in this world, and tried to make it a better place, even as she hoped for something better beyond it.
This is a collection of assorted writings and musings from the Catholic Church's most bad-ass, underappreciated woman. Much like Mother Theresa, she gave over her entire life to the poor. Unlike her colleague, however, Day had a wild past, and committed some "sins" that "nice" people would rather not bring up. Thus, if you're Catholic, you either discover Day by accident or not at all.
If you're a leftist, however, her name has probably come up once or twice, and with no "sin" baggage attached either, leaving you free to explore these writings without judgment, if you choose. Though seemingly a paradox, Day saw no conflict between her faith and her politics, and saw the practice of mutual aid as the natural fulfillment of gospel commands.
So, basically, you have to be a Catholic leftist to really appreciate this, or at least a leftist who hasn't been so traumatized by organized religion that you can't handle any talk of the divine. Its pocket-size makes it a better personal gift than a library pick, but if you've already got it, you don't have to weed it; it's sure to offend somebody, and a great library, as we often say around here, has something in it to offend everyone.
Like Day, I'm pretty much a neither-nor / both-and kind of person, so I took a great deal of comfort from these words, even while disagreeing heartily with many of them. Had somebody told me about her sooner, I might very well still be Catholic; as it is, however, I was happy to spend a few quiet hours with a woman who practiced what she preached, took joy in this world, and tried to make it a better place, even as she hoped for something better beyond it.
February 28, 2018
This collection of short snippets from Dorothy Day's work provides insight into her spiritual life and a starting point for discussion and thought. Each thematic section can be read separately. Good for Lent.
p.xiv: "We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community."
p.58: January and February are those months when winter seems interminable and vitality low. In the face of world events, in the face of the mystery of suffering, of evil in the world, it is a good time to read the book of Job, and then to go on reading the Psalms, looking for comfort--that is, strength to endure.
p.67: ...it says somewhere that God's grace comes and goes, with no fault of ours, and when we do not have it, we wait patiently and it returns. I do think manual labor of one kind or another is of help and when I get in states which last, I get to housecleaning, and there is always plenty of that around...and that is some relief.
p.xiv: "We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community."
p.58: January and February are those months when winter seems interminable and vitality low. In the face of world events, in the face of the mystery of suffering, of evil in the world, it is a good time to read the book of Job, and then to go on reading the Psalms, looking for comfort--that is, strength to endure.
p.67: ...it says somewhere that God's grace comes and goes, with no fault of ours, and when we do not have it, we wait patiently and it returns. I do think manual labor of one kind or another is of help and when I get in states which last, I get to housecleaning, and there is always plenty of that around...and that is some relief.
February 25, 2018
The Reckless Way of Love
Notes on Following Jesus
by Dorothy Day
Plough Publishing
Plough Publishing House
Christian , Religion & Spirituality
Pub Date 01 Mar 2017
I am reviewing a copy of The Reckless Way of Love through Plough Publishing and Netgalley:
This book covers a more personal dimension of her life and faith while larger collections and biographies which cover radical views and exceptional deeds.
Where did she receive the strength to stay true to her calling despite her own doubts and feelings of inadequacy as well as the demands of an activists life?
In this book we learn how she took the examples of Jesus and applied them in our own lives.
I give The Reckless Way of Love five out of five stars!
Happy Reading
Notes on Following Jesus
by Dorothy Day
Plough Publishing
Plough Publishing House
Christian , Religion & Spirituality
Pub Date 01 Mar 2017
I am reviewing a copy of The Reckless Way of Love through Plough Publishing and Netgalley:
This book covers a more personal dimension of her life and faith while larger collections and biographies which cover radical views and exceptional deeds.
Where did she receive the strength to stay true to her calling despite her own doubts and feelings of inadequacy as well as the demands of an activists life?
In this book we learn how she took the examples of Jesus and applied them in our own lives.
I give The Reckless Way of Love five out of five stars!
Happy Reading
March 18, 2018
For me this was an inspiring, although brief, introduction to the work, faith and life of social activist Dorothy Day. It is a loosely arranged compilation of her writings on faith, work, love, and compassion. I was inspired by her dedication and selflessness and took away many profound insights about our role in reaching out with friendship and patience to those around us. I am looking forward to reading "The Long Loneliness" and reading about Day's life more deeply.
August 8, 2017
I had never read any of Dorothy Day's writing before this and this was a lovely, simple introduction to her life of faith. Full of beautiful, short passages, the one thing I wished is that there had been some longer excepts included or that each quote came with a source (they were listed in the back, but not on each page).
May 6, 2017
Promoted in a line of "Backpack Classics" in Plough's Spiritual guides, this little book provided the perfect introduction for me to become better acquainted with Dorothy Day's personal reflections on faith and ministry. I also appreciated D.L. Mayfield's helpful introduction.
April 15, 2018
This was a sweet and encouraging read made up of excepts and selections from the writings and letters of Dorothy Day. There were some beautiful words of wisdom inside this book. It was a lovely uplifting and inspiring short read.
October 25, 2025
Dorothy Day was one of a kind. Not a self proclaimed theologian but some of her insights on faith and love and suffering left me with a deep yearning to know the Lord as well as she did. Will have to read again.
“All the way to heaven is heaven”
“The keenness and intensity of life brings with it suffering of course, but joy too, because it is a foretaste of heaven”
“Our lives are touched by those who lived centuries ago, and we hope that our lives will mean something to people who won't be alive until centuries from now. It's a great "chain of being," someone once told me, and I think our job is to do the best we can to hold up our small segment of the chain. That's one kind of localism, I guess, and one kind of politics”
“All the way to heaven is heaven”
“The keenness and intensity of life brings with it suffering of course, but joy too, because it is a foretaste of heaven”
“Our lives are touched by those who lived centuries ago, and we hope that our lives will mean something to people who won't be alive until centuries from now. It's a great "chain of being," someone once told me, and I think our job is to do the best we can to hold up our small segment of the chain. That's one kind of localism, I guess, and one kind of politics”
April 9, 2021
I just recently learned who Dorothy Day was. I admire her grit and simplicity. Her meditations on love in action and community are what resonated the most with me. Truly so many beautiful sentences within this short selection of her writings. “So joy and suffering go together, pleasure and pain, work and rest, the rhythm of life, day succeeding the night, spring following winter, life and death and life again, world without end.”
January 27, 2021
Love comes from community.
There’s still many things I don’t know about Dorothy Day, but I have surmised a few things. She was feisty, faithful, and full of grace to others. And she loved the poor.
There’s still many things I don’t know about Dorothy Day, but I have surmised a few things. She was feisty, faithful, and full of grace to others. And she loved the poor.
February 3, 2022
Easily one of my favorite Christian devotional-type books I've read in a long time. Dorothy Day gives a beautiful and consistent picture of a faith always leaning into humility and practical love of humanity all around us. A faith I hope I learn to emulate.
July 2, 2023
So many great quotes in this book. Collected excerpts from writing and letters of Dorothy Day come together to make an inspiring book about what it is to live a life of love. Dorothy reminds us that to love others is to love God and be loved by God, and how to live in community well is to love each other selflessly.
July 28, 2020
Easy to read. Hard to do! I know I will need to go back and reflect and read this book again. Timeless in its challenges to follow the radical way of Christ.
March 4, 2021
Very well laid out by the editor ~ a wonderful set of reflections looking at the lived experience of loving and being loved by God.
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November 6, 2025Having a Catholic moment
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