The Long Loneliness

These two concepts often come up in Day’s discussion of religion. The natural world is made up of daily realities and theories. The supernatural is the concept that there is an unknowable force or entity that exists in the universe, one that we can aspire to become closer to. Forster’s inability to believe in the supernatural is what drives Day away from him, and towards baptism. She was a firm believer in the day-to-day reality of improving conditions for workers and the poor, but also thought that this work had a higher purpose that includes honoring God and his presence through good works. Indeed, Day thinks that this belief in a higher power strengthens the impetus to push for worker communities that not only exist in the here and now, but feature philosophies and values that will endure.

A Catholic Mass is the ceremony in which bread and wine symbolically become the body and blood of Jesus Christ. When a Catholic takes Communion, they take a wafer on their tongue that symbolizes the body of Jesus; when it dissolves, they are supposed to think of the sacrifice that Jesus made for Christians. After that, they drink a bit of wine, which is supposed to symbolize Christ’s blood.