Dorothy Day: "Life Is a Banquet"

[DemBones DemBones]

"We cannot love God unless we love 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 loneliness, and we have learned that the only solution is love, and that love comes with community."


This was the Thanksgiving Day message from the Bruderhof's "Daily Dig" service; an inspirational quote-of-the-day service. The Bruderhof are a group of Christian pacifists who live in community, simply. Their theology is similar to that of the Amish, except they don't avoid everything modern, obviously, since they use computers.) Some of you might enjoy a free subscription to the "Daily Dig." They quote a lot of Catholics, actually, plus Gandhi and many others. Friday's quote is from Rabindranath Tagore.

The daily mailings always include a quote and a link to something at their site. The Thanksgiving Day link was

http://www.bruderhof.com/articles/francis-canticle.htm?source=DailyDig

which will take you to their site, to a page with The Canticle of the Sun, by St. Francis.

Is there anyone who doesn't like St, Francis? Or doesn't admire Dorothy Day, for that matter.

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving! :hi:

[pelagius]

1. Dorothy Day said...

"No one has a right to sit down and feel helpless, there's too much to do."

And I'm using those words as a inspiration right now during these troublesome times.

[DemBones DemBones]

2. Those are good words to use as inspiration/ motivation.

Did you know Martin Sheen was involved in making a movie a few years ago about the life of Dorothy Day? I saw part of it on television, and, IIRC, Sheen is a real admirer of Day and the Catholic Worker movement.

[AngryOldDem]

3. I admire Martin Sheen greatly

The man walks the walk as well as talks the talk.

I wonder if he was down at the School of the Americas protest this year?

[pelagius]

4. Martin Sheen is one of my heroes...

...and one of the few celebrities I'd actually like to meet and spend time with. There's a Christian!

[Maeve]

5. The only problem I have with that line...

Is a similar one from Auntie Mame--"Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!"

But then, Mame had a rather welcoming view to life that is also very Catholic (the family was Irish, after all!) Her extravagance was in direct opposition to the simpler life espoused by the above, but it was also an extravagance of love, the bounty that God pours out, full measure and over-flowing....

Just musing, but I think one of the things that makes me and keeps me Catholic is that the tradition embraces both lifestyles at the same time...not an "either/or" but a "both" approach.