From Union Square to Rome by Dorothy Day
This was a memoir written by Ms. Day to her brother and former comrades, who were all part of the Communist movement in the early 1900's around the time of the Great Depression. In it, she details here thoughts and reasons why she felt compelled to convert to Catholicism. The book ended before she went on to become a well-known activist and co-founder of the Catholic Worker.
I really enjoyed reading this book. The arguments Ms. Day made to defend her faith and explain how she was able to convert made a lot of sense to me. There was a time in my life that I was extremely angry at the world, God, and my place in life. I remember I had found a lot of Communist and Leftist literature from Karl Marx, Lenin, Ho Chi Minh, and even George Jackson that seemed to suit my needs at the time. But once I realized that I had to take responsibility for my life, and it was not God, the American justice system, or the world that had locked me up, I started to experience the same small miracles in my life that Ms. Day attributed to the presence of God in our lives. For example, now that I am searching, it seems that there are all these opportunities and people in my path that are there to help me.
Ms. Day's final chapter, "Your Three Objections," was my favorite. In it, she gave a compelling argument about how great and yet how terrible a gift Free Will is for us as human beings. I have come to accept that it was my own Free Will and choice to murder another human being, and it will be that same Free Will that will choose love, compassion, and self-discipline for my life from here on out.
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