What Is Dorothy Day Path To Service

Emily Herman
THL 215
Dr. Jennifer Reed-Bouley
30 March, 2016
There are many people in the world today that work to serve others. The calling to do so for some is sometimes easy while others may have a harder time finding their path to serve. This is how it was for Dorothy Day. Throughout her life she struggled to find her purpose in life and it wasn’t until she found her love of God through the Catholic Church that her joy and purpose was to help others. Her path to service was not an easy one, despite her enriched upbringing, she had her struggles, but Dorothy always fought for what she believed in. Once she found her calling to serve, she found joy in what she did and loved to incorporate Christ’s teachings of serving others in everything
In this sense, Dorothy was restless. Himes states, “every human being is fundamentally restless and dissatisfied” ( Himes, p. 38). We all strive to do more in our lives, we are never satisfied with the things we do or the things we have but rather we all look to do more. In Doing the Truth in Love, Himes talks about how it is good that people are restless in their search to find God. This is because according to Himes, it is what pushes us towards God to agapic love. In many ways Dorothy experienced restlessness particularly during her marriage where she stated, “my very happiness made me know that there was a greater happiness to be obtained from life than any other I had ever known” (Allaire, p.5). It was during this time that Dorothy realized she did not just want to be a beloved mother and devoted wife but rather she wanted to be able to share the happiness and move to do things that can better the world around her. Dorothy even discussed this inadvertently when she talked about her work of serving others. She
According to Himes, “theology means talking about God” (Himes, p. 84). Dorothy found many ways to incorporate God into a discussion. Even in her writings she found ways to incorporate her faith. Even before she came to the Catholic Church, Dorothy would talk about God. Himes states, “there are some things about which nothing can be said and before which we dare not keep silent” (Himes, p. 84). In this sense, Dorothy felt the same. She was continually searching for God in her early years, but that did not keep her from talking about God. Even when she was lost and would shy away from religion she would always find her way to a point where she would talk about God with others and once she found Catholicism this only