Servant of God Dorothy Day (1897–1980) was a pacifist, social commentator, journalist, convert to Catholicism, and cofounder of the Catholic Worker movement. Day cofounded the Catholic Worker movement in 1933 with Peter Maurin to live and spread the vision of Catholic social teaching.
The following excerpt was taken from Reflections during Advent by Dorothy Day, which originally appeared in the Ave Maria, November 26, 1966. In the reflection for the First Week of Advent, she describes the importance of Marian devotion in her life.
Every day at the Catholic Worker Farm when we gather for meals we say the Angelus before asking God’s blessing on us and the food we eat. And it rejoices me to hear all the men, who are in the majority, saying, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to Thy Word,” and repeating together that marvelous and yet terrible prayer:
“Pour forth we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts, that we to whom the incarnation of Christ was made known by the message of an angel, may by His passion and cross be brought to the glory of His resurrection.”
This incarnation came about by Mary’s consent, she “through whom we have received the author of life.”
So Advent must begin with Mary, who presents us with the infant Christ. “The flesh of Jesus is the flesh of Mary,” St. Augustine wrote. “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.”
When I go to the crib this year I will think, as I always do, that we are not dependent on the governments of this world for our safety, but “the government will be upon His shoulder.” This baby cradled in a manger, this boy talking to the doctors in the temple, this youth working with St. Joseph as carpenter, this teacher walking the roads of Palestine, “Do whatever He tells you,” Mary told us.
