The Dorothy Day Guild asks its members and others to “spiritually gather” (in the words of Pope Francis) to pray a novena for solidarity and compassion in this challenging time. The gospel reading for today is St. Luke’s account of the road to Emmaus (24: 13-35). Two disciples, witnesses to the Crucifixion, walk with heavy hearts away from the community in Jerusalem toward the village of Emmaus. On the road, they are joined by a Stranger who listens to their fears and cruel disappointment. They hear His words, and then their hearts “burn within them.” In one of Scripture’s most hauntingly beautiful passages, in the “breaking of the bread,” they recognize Him to be the Risen Christ. We are those disciples, filled with despair, filled with longing.

We pray for the repose of the loved ones we have lost during this tragic time and the consolation of their families and friends. Today, we also pray for those suffering painful isolation, separated from their loved ones, that they find support. We ask for solidarity and the grace to walk together in suffering and in joy.

“We cannot love God unless we love each other, and to love we must know each other. We know Him in the breaking of bread, and we know each other in the breaking of bread, and we are not alone anymore. Heaven is a banquet and life is a banquet, too, even with a crust, where there is companionship.”
― Dorothy Day, The Long Loneliness

Let us pray…Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be OR the Holy Rosary

Prayer for the Canonization of Servant of God Dorothy Day (1897 – 1980)

God our Father,
Your servant Dorothy Day exemplified
the Catholic faith by her life
of prayer, voluntary poverty,
works of mercy, and
witness to the justice and peace
of the Gospel of Jesus.
May her life inspire your people
to turn to Christ as their Savior,
to see His face in the world’s poor, and
to raise their voices for the justice
of God’s kingdom.
I pray that her holiness may be recognized by your Church
And that you grant the following favor that I humbly ask through her intercession:
(here mention your request)
I ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

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