Ordinary
Saints
“Knitting
is very conducive to thought. It is nice to knit a while, put the
needles down, write a while, then take up the sock again.”
Dorothy
Day
Dorothy
Day lived a life of intensity. She became a Benedictine Oblate in midlife, and was active in both the Communist and the workers rights
movements in America. She wrote for Catholic publications, as well as
two books of her own: The Eleventh Virgin, and The Long Loneliness.
Even though Day lived a bohemian lifestyle, bore a child out of
wedlock, and had an abortion, she has been brought up for sainthood
because of her lifelong work on behalf of the poor. She considered
herself a revolutionary, not a saint.
It's interesting to me that when most of us consider someone a saint,
we believe they lived a life of purity and purpose. They never
strayed, never sinned, and never had carnal knowledge of another.
When we think saint, in fact, we think virgin, whether male or
female. We think of Mother Teresa in the slums of Calcutta, St.
Francis of Assisi with his tender little animals, and Joan of Arc
leading her troops into battle. But, in truth, many of those now considered saintly lived ordinary lives. For instance, Elizabeth Ann
Seton, the first American-born saint, married and had five children.
In
her poem, Wild Geese, Mary Oliver famously wrote:
“You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting...”
Saintly
behavior comes in all kinds of packages, and usually looks like
regular people doing ordinary things for the good of others. I'm glad
Dorothy Day is up for sainthood. Perhaps her life will be an example
of a new kind of saint. We all know individuals who may be rough
around the edges, but who work tirelessly for those in need; who
teach, and nurse, and prepare food and shelter for those who exist on
the margins of society. Saints among us, every one. They may never be
recognized as such, but we know who they are.
In
the spirit,
Jane
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