My Privilege Is To Have No Privilege

My Privilege Is To Have No Privilege

  

The sign of how much I love God is how much I love those I love the least.
Dorothy Day

even in heaven
hers was a minority viewpoint

she knew her Aquinas --
that to contemplate

the just punishment of the wicked
adds to the joy of the blessed

not her idea of paradise.

so without fanfare
Dorothy Day
took up residence in the infernal regions
rented a rundown storefront
taped a sign in the broken window
'House of Hospitality'.

she walked a daily picket line
protesting stiffling heat  

insatiable thirst  bad working conditions  

eternal torment

passed out copies

of her penny-newspaper
to any of the demon-harried 

who would take one

worked the soup-line
poured endless cups of coffee
scrounged cookies and day-old donuts
from a sympathetic archangel

listened patiently

to the piteous complaints

of the damned

she was last seen
at suppertime

hunched over a table

showing a weeping dictator
photos of his grandchildren.

In the End, It's All About Joy

 Wood Engraving by Ade Bethune

Today is the thirty-sixth anniversary of the death of Servant of God, Dorothy Day.  In pondering with gratitude her life and witness, it is easy to forget that for her, following Jesus, and a lifetime of doing the corporal and spiritual works of mercy were, in the end, not a penance or a burden but all about joy. 

She wrote:"You will know your vocation by the joy that it brings you.  You will know.  You will know when it's right."  

Of course, the hardships she endured were real and painful enough.  She lived with loneliness, disappointment, doubt and criticism, with the daily struggle to face her own faults and failings and sins.  She was misunderstood by many, including some of those who admired her the most.

But it was the friendship of men and women on the edges of society, the poor and forgetten, the ones who are of no account in this world, but who are closest to Jesus, who brought her close to Him.  It was with them that she found joy, for it was with them that she found Christ, our joy, our hope and our peace. 

Dorothy Day, Servant of God, pray for us.

A New Work of Mercy for the Year of Mercy

"Everything a baptized person does every day should be directly or indirectly related to the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy."                                                                                           Dorothy Day

Wood engraving by Ade Bethune 

In his message today “Show Mercy in Our Common Home”, for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, Pope Francis recommends that we add to the seven traditional works of mercy an eighth work:, care for our common home.

(See the entire message at this link below)

 http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/pont-messages/2016/documents/papa-francesco_20160901_messaggio-giornata-cura-creato.html

Referring to his encyclical Laudato Si, he explains that “as a spiritual work of mercy, care for our common home calls for ‘grateful contemplation of God’s world’ which allows us to discover in each thing a teaching which God wishes to hand on to us (LS 214)”

He goes onto further propose that “as a corporal work of mercy, care for our common home requires ‘simple daily gestures which break with the logic of violence, exploitation and selfishness …and makes itself felt in every action which seeks to build a better world.”(LS 230-31)

And as always, he urges us to pray:

O God of the poor, 

help us to rescue the abandoned 

and forgotten of this earth, 

who are so precious in your eyes... 

God of love, show us our place in this world 

as channels of your love for all the creatures of this world.

God of mercy, may we receive your forgiveness 

and convey your mercy throughout our common home.

Praise be to you!

Amen 

 Today in Juneau, Alaska there will be two prayer events for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation

-- Holy Hour with Benediction  5:30pm-6:30pm at the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

-- Interfaith Prayer Service, 7:00pm-8:00pm at Northern Light United Church, sponsored by Alaska Interfaith Power and Light.

Everyone is invited, everyone is welcome, at both events.