An Encounter at the Airport with Missionaries of Charity on Dorothy Day's Birthday

"The mystery of the poor is this: that they are Jesus, and what you do for them you do to him."

As I was waiting to board an airplane in Albuquerque on Saturday, November 8, I spotted four nuns wearing habits that looked very familiar. After a moment of thought, I realized where I had seen these habits with the distinctive blue stripes across across the front of their hood.  Pictures of Mother Teresa.  These sisters were members of the Missionaries of Charity.  I chatted briefly with a couple of the sisters, and they told me they had spent a few weeks in Gallup serving a poor community and were on their way back to St. Louis, which happens to the site of the order's Mother House in the U.S.

Perhaps it was a coincidence (and a happy one) that the encounter occurred on Dorothy Day's birthday. No two (fairly) contemporary women are more identified with the poor than Mother Teresa and Dorothy Day. Mother Teresa is the ultimate symbol of charity with her work in Calcutta. Dorothy Day is the founder of the Catholic Worker movement. Catholic Worker houses around the country provide shelter and food--but they are also ultimately about promoting justice.  And the common thread is that both were women of deep faith and prayer.  Both Mother Teresa and Dorothy Day are modern day saints (regardless of whether the authorities that make sainthood decisions think so).

So, two days after Dorothy Day's birthday, I  would like  to share some great resources, courtesy of  Father James Martin, S.J.

More about the Servant of God from Robert Ellsberg: 

A brief video about her life:
And an album of photos, courtesy of Jim Forest