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More often than not, I check the Franciscan Media website as part of my morning routine to educate myself about little known (to me, at least) saints of the Church. I am pretty well aware of the celebrations of the most famous ones but some new names pop up every once in awhile and I’m glad to know that some newly canonized people are less recognizable for things like physical martyrdom or the founding of religious communities. Their holiness is simpler – if not always easier – in a daily life sort of way.

Today I found that – like lots of other websites – http://www.franciscanmedia.org has been significantly updated and now includes an eye-catching blog that stalled me on my way to doing my own daily duty! The blog post that appeared was from March 26th and included two articles under the title, Radical Hospitality. They were both about the life and work of Dorothy Day but the first only tangentially.

The author, Shannon Evans, spoke of her own life and her long-held desire to follow in Day’s footsteps by living in and serving with her large family at a Catholic Worker house. Her opportunity to do so quickly revealed to her that this was not the way God was calling her – or her husband and children – so after a few months, her dreams dashed but knowing in her heart that this was the correct decision, they moved back home. While Evans admits to still wishing to be more like her idol and doubting that will ever change, she writes the following:

Children of all ages, races and wealth are jumping on the trampoline in the backyard. I can hear their squeals of delight as I type. I’ll talk with mothers later on in the heat of the day – we’ll talk about the garden, we’ll talk about racial injustice, we’ll eat cantaloupe, and we’ll live this fruitful, painful, mundane life together side by side. I don’t think this kind of house of hospitality will ever look or feel important. But I do think it will matter. And I think Dorothy Day would say it does too.

What a great lesson of searching for what is truly one’s calling and accepting it when it turns out to be different from expected but perfect in God’s eyes.