the mystery of the poor

Lawrence, Jacob
The Migration Series, Panel No. 10:"They were very poor"
1940-41
Tempera on gesso on composition board
12 x 18 in. (30.5 x 45.7 cm)
The Museum of Modern Art, New York

. . . . .

I looked around and the general appearance of the place was, as usual, home-like, informal, noisy, and comfortably warm on a cold evening. And yet, looked at the with the eyes of a visitor, our place must look dingy indeed, filled as it always is with men and women, some children too, all of whom bear the unmistakable mark of misery and destitution. Aren't we deceiving ourselves, I am sure many of them think, in the work we are doing? What are we accomplishing for them anyway, or for the world or for the common good? "Are these people being rehabilitated?" is the question we get almost daily from visitors or from our readers (who seem to be great letter writers).

One priest had his catechism class write us questions as to our work after they had the assignment in religion class to ready my book The Long Loneliness. The majority of them asked the same question: "How can you see Christ in people?" And we only say: It is an act of faith, constantly repeated. It is an act of love, resulting from an act of faith. It is an act of hope, that we can awaken these same acts in their hearts, too, with the help of God, and the Works of Mercy, which you, our readers, help us to do, day in and day out over the years.

~~Dorothy Day, The Mystery of the Poor