Saturday, Feb. 18, 2006 - 11:31 p.m.
The Long Loneliness...
As I sat at Mass tonight, the words of Dorothy Day kept running through my head -- "We have all known the long loneliness..." In fact, those words have been coming to mind a lot lately, and it was only today that I started to truly understand the meaning of Dorothy's powerful words.
To give you a bit of context... Dorothy Day is the founder of the Catholic Worker movement. Google her if you want to learn more about her life. Or better yet, read a book about her. She's one of my heroines. I volunteered for Andre House in Phoenix, AZ for a year. Andre House was founded in the Catholic Worker tradition, and it was during my time there that I fell in love with the poor.
I looked up the context of her famous quote and found the postscript from Dorothy Day's book, The Long Loneliness. Here it is:
The most significant thing about The Catholic Worker is poverty, some say.
The most significant thing is community, others say. We are not alone anymore.
But the final word is love. At times it has been, in the words of Father Zossima, a harsh and dreadful thing, and our very faith in love has been tried through fire.
We cannot love God unless we love each other, and to love we must know each other. We know Him in the breaking of bread, and we know each other in the breaking of bread, and we are not alone anymore. Heaven is a banquet and life is a banquet, too, even with a crust, where there is companionship.
We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes in community.
As I read these words, I began to understand why my transition to life in London has been so difficult. In Phoenix, I came to a thorough understanding of Dorothy Day's words. I came to understand love in a way I never had before, and I truly came to understand the love that comes from community. I realized tonight that the reason I was open to God's plan when Martin entered my life was because I had found community and was finally starting to grasp the intensity of God�s love.
Tonight it hit me that now, in London, I am starting over. I have to build a community here, a community that begins with God and my wonderful husband. And building that community takes time. In the meantime, I am coming to understand the reality of �the long loneliness.�
The Best is Yet to Come - Friday, May. 11, 2007
Housing for Homeless Alcoholics - Thursday, Jul. 06, 2006
Love 'til it Hurts... - Monday, Jun. 05, 2006
I am comforted... - Friday, Apr. 21, 2006
The Long Loneliness... - Saturday, Feb. 18, 2006
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