Here in italics is “Letter to a Young Activist” as published in The Catholic Worker interspersed with my own commentary:

Do not depend on the hope of results.

What a challenge that is . Any action one embarks on is undertaken with the hope of positive, tangible results. One must have hope that what you do will have an impact. But to the extent you... See more

Every encounter demands too much, tears the nerves, drains the will, and the spectre of something as small as an unanswered letter arouses such disproportionate guilt that one's sanity becomes an object of speculation among one's acquaintances. To assign unanswered letters their proper weight, to free us from the expectations of others, to give us... See more

A friend recently reminded me of the Letter to a Young Activist that Trappist monk Thomas Merton wrote in 1966, and suggested that some of the same issues are again in play now. That letter was originally a personal response to Jim Forest, who was then a young activist and a founder of the Catholic Peace Fellowship, who felt deep discouragement... See more