God’s Things

admin • December 21, 2014

“Thank God for turtles in backyards,
For smell of horses and the wagon load of celery,
For scrubbed sweet potatoes
Baking in a push cart oven,
For the smell of charcoal on a dull fall day.
For chestnuts, too, and the dry leaves of Bayard St.
For the little bird in the church yard,
Bright with the yellow breast.
For the pert grasshopper on Katie’s vegetable stand,
For babies, for kittens, for little humble things.
Teresa calls dungeons, the dark dark tenements,
But thank God for poverty which drives us from ugliness
To walk in parks, over bridges, or just among the people.
The sky is ours, the wind, the rain.
There is sun on bare branches, and sun on the housetops.
We cannot be home bound, we must look for God’s things,
So to the streets, to the parks, to the bridge, to the rivers, to the markets, to the bay¾
Everywhere, even here,
Even in the dungeons
In the ugly cities,
There we thank Thee,
Loved One, God!”

–Dorothy Day, Catholic Worker 1941

Archived Comments

Deborah says:

January 18, 2016 at 12:58 pm

Real change comes about when we take the heart of God to a needy world. DOROTHY not only transformed her heart by the living presence of Jesus in her life, but she also carried that love to others and shared it with with those in need ….whether for food for the body or the soul. We must pray for more Dorothys in this world…..let it begin with us!

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Works of Mercy and Works of Peace: A Late-Summer Missive from the Guild

By Casey Mullaney • August 31, 2026
Dear Dorothy Day Guild members and friends, Greetings and peace to each of you, your families, and your communities. As always, we hope this missive finds you well. This month’s update is a quick one, but we have a few invitations for fall events to share with you, as well as some reading and listening recommendations (including a collection of audio recordings of Dorothy’s talks and lectures you may not have heard before!) for the end of the season. Thank you so much for your enthusiastic support for our cause; keep reading to learn more about how you can continue to be involved in the coming months!

Summer Greetings and Canonization Updates

By Casey Mullaney • July 15, 2026
Dear Dorothy Day Guild friends and members, We hope that all of you are well, and for those in the United States, that you had a safe and happy July 4th weekend! Fifty years ago, for America’s Bicentennial anniversary, National Catholic Reporter included a six-page spread of greetings, poetry, and commentary from both ordinary and prominent American Catholics. Dorothy responded to their request for a quote with a one-word message to her country: “Repent.”

Ninety-three years ago today!

By Casey Mullaney • May 1, 2026
Dear members and friends of the Dorothy Day Guild, Greetings to each of you in this fourth week of Easter and on the occasion of the Catholic Worker movement’s 93rd anniversary! On May 1st, 1933, Dorothy, her daughter Tamar, and several others sold the first issue of The Catholic Worker newspaper in Union Square for a penny a copy, and as Dorothy later wrote in The Long Loneliness, “It all happened while we sat there talking, and it is still going on”! It is because of that faithful witness to the Gospel through Dorothy’s practices of nonviolence, hospitality, and voluntary poverty that we get to share in this joyful pilgrimage with you all these years later. Thank you, Dorothy, and happy anniversary to all our Catholic Worker friends, past and present!
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