"Radical Hospitality" by the Rev. Dr. Amy Slaughter Myers

St. Francis Spiritual Sustenance : November 9, 2022 =======================================

“Our Manifesto is the Sermon on the Mount.” - Dorothy Day

Yesterday - November 8 - was the 125th birthday of Dorothy Day. Day is currently a candidate for sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church despite living an “unconventional” life.

Isn’t the call on all of us who want to follow Jesus to live unconventionally? The Gospel invites us to live radically in love, peace, and justice with our neighbors and all creation. That’s pretty unconventional by any standard, much less mainstream American cultural standards.

Dorothy Day lived by Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount - the Beatitudes found in Matthew 5:1-13. Among other things, she co-founded houses of hospitality that welcomed all people and offered shelter, food, and community. These houses were part of the Catholic Worker movement and were unconventional and controversial:

“The Catholic Worker attitude toward those who were welcomed wasn’t always appreciated. These weren’t the “deserving poor,” it was sometimes objected, but drunkards and good-for-nothings. A visiting social worker asked Day how long the “clients” were permitted to stay. “We let them stay forever,” Day answered.. “They live with us, they die with us, and we give them a Christian burial. We pray for them after they are dead. Once they are taken in, they become members of the family. Or rather they always were members of the family. They are our brothers and sisters in Christ.”

Contemporary iconographer Kelly Latimore has written an icon of the hospitality of God in Dorothy Day welcoming the Holy Family. This icon hangs in St. Francis Episcopal Parish and Community Center where our ministers of hospitality and presence welcome all those who come to St. Francis.

SOURCE: You can read more about Dorothy Day HERE and visit her Facebook page HERE.