{"id":12477,"date":"2026-08-24T22:53:03","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T22:53:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/?p=12477"},"modified":"2026-08-24T22:53:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T22:53:15","slug":"dorothy-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/dorothy-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Dorothy Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cSuch a great feeling of happiness and joy filled me that I was hungry for Someone to thank, to love, even to worship\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

-Dorothy Day, The Long Loneliness<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps you\u2019ve heard of this woman named Dorothy Day<\/a>. She is best known for her activism and radical service, especially among those suffering from poverty. She co-founded the Catholic Worker Movement<\/a>, which has dedicated nearly 100 years to offering hospitality to people often marginalized by mainstream society. Dorothy did such outstanding work for those in need that the Catholic Church has given her the official title \u201cServant of God\u201d \u2013 one of the first official steps towards becoming a recognized saint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dorothy didn\u2019t become a serious Christian until the age of 30. If we get to know her life story, we discover all sorts of experiences that slowly yet powerfully led her to a life of discipleship. But folks who study Dorothy\u2019s life often point out<\/a> one particular foundation for Dorothy\u2019s faith: thankfulness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the months leading up to her conversion, Dorothy began to pray more and more. She had always prayed, at least from time to time, sort of as an instinct \u2013 but around this time she became intentional about praying. Someone asked her about this change. What was going on in her life that made her start to pray like that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We might expect to hear a story of tragedy. Often these great changes in a person\u2019s life come about because they are going through an exceptionally difficult time: struggling with loss or illness, addiction or a crisis of faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when Dorothy was asked about why she started to pray, she talked about how happy she was. She was in a relationship with a man named Forster, who felt like her perfect match, and she loved their life together. So she prayed as a way to give thanks for all of that joy. She later said that the good things in her life had always made her want to pray:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t think prayer for me has only been connected with sadness and misery. I have prayed when I have felt low and tired and worried. But when I have felt joy and fulfillment in this world, I have always wanted to say thank you. I just can\u2019t believe there isn\u2019t someone to thank. I remember when I was a child and I\u2019d wish something would happen, and it did, I would try to find a minute to whisper \u201cthank you.\u201d I wasn\u2019t thanking my mother and my father; I was thanking the god of fate and chance, I suppose, the way children do. Lady Luck or my Good Luck Charm or the little piece of rabbit fur my younger brother carried on his key-chain. Now I hope you don\u2019t jump on me and tell me I was being superstitious then, and I\u2019m being superstitious now. I was being thankful. I felt thankful when I met Forster and fell in love with him and he fell in love with me. I wanted to express my thanks\u2026<\/em> <\/p>(quoted in Robert Coles, Dorothy Day: A Radical Devotion<\/em><\/a>).<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That thankfulness that Dorothy felt was like the rain that watered all the little seeds of faith that had been planted in her life. That thankfulness made all those seeds finally bud and blossom. She soon had her daughter baptized and joined the Catholic Church, where she stayed for the rest of her life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of us are beginning this semester in even more chaos than usual. And yet, simultaneously, I am hearing more stories than usual about thankfulness. Maybe you are too. Thankfulness for friends who shared resources. Thankfulness for the sight of NIPSCO trucks in our neighborhoods. For a place to stay; for getting to move into our own rooms; for returning students and friends. Thankfulness for what we do have, even when our lives are harder than usual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Practicing thankfulness has the power to transform us. Gratitude helps us feel more positive, because we really notice the good things. It brightens our relationships as we appreciate the people in our lives. It helps us grow in faith as we realize our dependence on our good God. It empowers us to do good in this often dark world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s Monday Morning Prayer theme is, \u201cFor This, I am Grateful.\u201d We look forward to hearing staff and faculty share stories of the events and people for which they are thankful \u2013 and maybe learning more about the power that thankfulness has in our lives and communities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Pastor Kate<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rev. Katherine Museu<\/a>s\u00a0and\u00a0Rev. James A. Wetzstein<\/a>\u00a0serve as university pastors at the Chapel of the Resurrection at Valparaiso University and take turns writing bi-weekly devotions and reflections with the Institute for Leadership and Service staff.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cSuch a great feeling of happiness and joy filled me that I was hungry for Someone to thank, to love, even to worship\u2026\u201d -Dorothy Day, The Long Loneliness Perhaps you\u2019ve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":82,"featured_media":12478,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-katherine-museus","category-csl-newsletter-devotionals"],"acf":[],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Elizabeth Searle","author_link":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/author\/esearle1\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2026\/08\/Kate-300x169.webp","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Katherine Museus<\/a>","CSL Newsletter Devotionals<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Katherine Museus<\/span>","CSL Newsletter Devotionals<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 2 months ago","modified":"Updated 2 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on August 24, 2026","modified":"Updated on August 24, 2026"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on August 24, 2026 10:53 pm","modified":"Updated on August 24, 2026 10:53 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/82"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12477"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12480,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12477\/revisions\/12480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}