“HE STOLE PLENTY BUT HE HELPED US PLENTY TOO and he tried over and over again to pull himself out of the gutter. Far worse were the pharisees who used to cluck also. ‘Look at that Bill saying the rosary tonight when he was drunk as a lord last night.’ Thank God he prayed. The Blessed Mother is remembering him now since he remembered her then.”

and much more from Dorothy Day, for All Souls Day. Via Sed Contra, who has a great post on today’s feast here: “The message, the task, the call to be Saints is not restricted to merely a few or to folks who have some secret information. The road following Christ is hard, but its open to everybody, regardless of background, temptation, history, past sins or even current sins.

“…In fact, I think the torment of purgatory has a lot to do with 1) being ever more certain that God exists and that He loves us while 2) still not being able to work out the things in our lives and characters and histories that keep us from Him.

“…This encourages me because there are a lot of folks in my life who have died who I could not honestly call saints but who I cannot help but hope have found mercy from God. There is such a tendency in today’s world to make people into icons of whatever fears or anxieties or disputes or politics that are abroad in the land. A while back I used get mail from both self described Christian and gay groups and the days when fund raising letters from each would arrive at the same time I was suprised my little mailbox didn’t explode from all the competing name calling and objectifying. But the reality is that no one I know has a life that can be boiled down to something that can be in a slogan or on a bumper sticker.”

Thank God, the Father of Mercies.