Peter Maurin

I believe that so many of our troubles can be traced back to the fact that our history, the people's history, is stolen from us by the government. They write the history books.

You need to know that there was, and still is, something called the Catholic Workers Movement. It was started by 2 people. Dorothy Day, a communist sympathizer, divorcee who once had an abortion. She lived with the people in squalor and poverty.

And Peter Maurin who often slept in his suit. Below is a wonderful summary of Peter Maurin.

I often like to play the game of "who am I?" Am I Peter or am I Dorothy? And I like to include my friend Ashleigh Hughes in the game too... I truly believe she has the potential to be the first great homeless advocate.

The truth is... You never are a true reincarnation of any one person. You are the product of energy of many people and plants and animals, not to mention your environment and actual genetics. You will never be a carbon copy of a person.

But that's not the point. The point is that they inspire you. Understanding their lives, how they lived and what they thought inspires you to step up your game. To understand that you can go harder because others, many others, went way harder than you.

I thought of you when I read this quote from "Dorothy Day: Dissenting Voice of the American Century" by John Loughery, Blythe Randolph -

"Dorothy’s insistent statements that he was the one responsible for any good the Catholic Worker had done in the world were always taken with a grain of salt. It was obvious to everyone that Peter never would have managed to keep a newspaper or a house of hospitality going, that he was too scattered, too given to wanderlust. Yet Dorothy was right in demanding that primacy be given to inspiration. Without Peter, it never would have occurred to her to attempt to start a newspaper, open a house of hospitality, become a spokesperson for a new path in life. While Peter was alive, Dorothy and those who believed unequivocally in Peter’s greatness—Sheehan, Sullivan, Porcelli, Bethune, Ordway, Marge Hughes—felt that they were privileged to live in the presence of a latter-day St. Francis of Assisi. Peter could be irritating, exhausting, and confusing, but he was a perpetual reminder that their mission was not at its heart about politics, labor, or even the alleviating of suffering; rather, it was about joy in poverty, renunciation, love for all humanity, the example of the saints, and an unreserved commitment to God. The Catholic Worker was, in its essence, a Franciscan movement. With her Prince Myshkin gone, that burden of reminder fell exclusively on Dorothy’s beleaguered shoulders."

Start reading this book for free: https://a.co/7GE9h6C