“We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community.” ~Dorothy Day

Dorothy Day is one of my favorite catholic saints. While she has yet to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church, the co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement and inspiration for Catholic Worker Houses all over the world is widely held to be a great figure of wisdom, love, compassion and mystery today.

I just recently was sent an article in which some of Dorothy’s very personal love letters were in the process of being published. I wonder what she would say about this- no doubt, if I should be in her place, I would wish them destroyed. The letters are very personal and many are her love letters to her lover and partner, the father of her only child. Though they never married and separated due to strains that are a part of every relationship, she never sought another relationship (as far as I have studied [not that I am an expert by any stretch of the imagination]).

The letters speak of her ongoing love and loneliness of her missing partner. The letters address the very real aspects of relationship- the sweet words, the challenges, the sadness of ½ the bed being empty when the partner is away- the sweet expression of desire to have the bed filled.

Some will find these sentiments wrong and maybe even scandalous. I think that it has the beautiful ability to lend credibility to the very definition of what it means to be in relationship. Whether that relationship is in community- the group or with just one other individual.   I think the question is what does love look like to you?  How is it expressed authentically?  These images are vidi images of the fun in and with others in relationships!!!  Thoughts?