Dorothy Day and Love

Dorothy Day (1897-1980), founder of the Catholic Worker movement and communities, was a doer more than a theorist, a pray-er rather than a theologian. She lived with the homeless, housed them, and learned from them.

A moving book about a moving woman, Dorothy Day: Portraits by Those Who Knew Her offers this story, which I suppose moved me even a litte more in light of Jezza's August 20 post on Nick's life, relationship with us at CCO, and tragic death:

At [Dorothy Day's] wake, you saw... all these famous people. And then a street person would come and stand by the casket and weep. A raggedy, pitiful man. One of them kept saying over and over, 'She loved us, she listened to us, she loved us.' Then he bent over to kiss her.

There are many legacies a person can leave on this earth. Artistic brilliance, acts of political power or statesman-like skill, beauty and wit that becomes legend....

But how many of us will have one of the "least of these" lean over us and say, "she loved, she listened, she loved...."? Listening, surrounded by love before and love after.

It seems to me that the greatest work of art, the most statesman-like moment, the most beautiful thing one can possible do, is to grant another the gift of one's own time, hands, ears, attentive heart. Love. That is the only gift worth receiving... and the only one which will truly be remembered having been given.