i wanted to repost something i think i posted earlier...

Dorothy Day, Peter Maurin and the Catholic Worker Movement

Baroness calls Dorothy Day a Saint
by Catherine Doherty

in part...

I got to 16th Street where Dorothy Day was. I found a big apartment all filled with cots. On each cot, because it was evening, there was somebody sleeping, or lying around, for Dorothy was helping the poor women in those days. There was only one empty bed that she herself slept in. She said, "Catherine, you can sleep with me."

I was about to go to sleep when there was a knock on the door and a woman came in. I looked at her and it seemed to me that she had syphilis -- advanced syphilis at that.

She said to Dorothy, "Can I have a place to stay?" And Dorothy welcomed her warmly and said, "Oh, indeed, you can sleep with me." I got a little worried about it. We went into the bathroom and Dorothy said, "Catherine, you can sleep in the bathtub." I was ready to sleep in the bathtub, but, speaking as a nurse, I told Dorothy that this woman was a major health threat. If Dorothy had any open cuts or anything she might become infected herself.

It was then I certainly got my first lesson in charity. Dorothy, usually mild, gentle and kind, suddenly arose, and in a spirited voice said, "Catherine, you don't understand. This is Christ who has come to ask for a place to sleep. He will take care of me. I am sleeping with Christ and nothing can happen to me. You have to have faith!"

that, my dears, is what i am talking about.

who do you go about abandoning the fear that enslaves us to remain where we are? the fear that makes us worry so much about our selves that we cannot respond the will of God, the fear that keeps us where we are, in our comfort zone.

what if..........what if what? where does it say in scripture that prayer groups are mutually exclusive? or that if the person needs prayer, they should come to you in a certain way, by certain means and standards? or if a person needs anything, anything at all, because they have not - if we are able to help them, shouldn't we?

who are we to put parameters around the ways God wants us to take care of His people? because we don't care for how something is packaged or how it looks or smells or whatever, insert your disdain for whatever here ___________. just who are we following? we call ourselves Christians, right?

right?

this reminds me (i was too ill to post about this earlier) -- i had a conversation with a friend's fiance during their breakfast the other morning and he posed the question to me: "do you think you should be responsible for helping someone whose God is not the God we know from the bible?"

like who, muhammed?

yes.

i said "you betcha."

he had a problem with that.

i said to him "you follow Scripture to the letter of the law?"

i try to...

" - where does it state that before you give donations to the poor they are to fill out a checklist provided them and if they don't check off the appropriate boxes, you withhold your donation?"

it doesn't.

"bingo....listen, i don't care who or what god they follow, that's up to God to take care of, not penni. how will they know the face of Jesus if we don't show it to them? how will they know us, by our tee-shirts? you can have as many shirts and bumper stickers and Jesus fishes you want on your vehicle, it's all window dressing. how about your heart?"