"Like every human being who hungers and thirsts for justice and peace, Dorothy Day had periods of complete exhaustion, sorrow, and pain. I was told that she would then withdraw and cry — for hours and days. She would sit there, talk to no one, eat nothing, and just cry. She did not withdraw from her struggle-filled, active life for the poorest of the poor. She never ceased to look upon war, and preparation for war, as a crime against the poor. But at certain times she wept, long and bitterly.
"When I discovered this, I understood better what pacifism is, what God means in the midst of defeat, how the spirit comforts us and leads us into truth. I understood that comfort is not had by giving up truth, that one does not happen at the expense of the other. That Dorothy Day cried for days on end means for me that the Spirit's consolation bears, at the same time, its own inconsolability. With Dorothy Day, we can learn to pray for the gift of tears."
To Practice: When you are at the end of your rope and everything around you seems overwhelming, allow yourself to receive the gift of tears and feel solidarity with the psalmists and others like Dorothy Day.
