Dorothy Day's story is not the type of story that has a clear beginning and a clear ending. She did not know where her destiny was going to take her or how she was going to arrive there. Her entire life was like a series of experiments as she tested her way through all of her experiences and feelings, trying to find a balance and purpose. The three main ideas that Ammon Hennacy explained in the quote; love, courage, and wisdom, all played a very important part in Dorothy Day's life. It wasn't until near the end of her life that Day was finally able to find a perfect balance between these three; for the first part of her life she always seemed to be missing one them.
When she was just a young girl, Day was introduced to the concept of Catholicism and saints by Mary Harrington, a playmate. As Mary told her about the life of a saint, she suddenly began to feel love for God and be overwhelmingly curious and interested in a spiritual life. In another instance, she found one of her neighbors on her knees in prayer, and this neighbor in turn began to teach her how to pray as well. Basically, she was just learning about religion; she did not know much about the bible or the background of Catholicism. Yet, she still loved God with all of heart, practicing "being a saint" and praying at length every night. This was the point of her young life in which she had the love to be able to practice these Catholic traditions, but did not have complete or even rudimentary knowledge of it as a whole, nor the courage to fully commit herself as time went on.
As she grew into adolescence, she still maintained the idea that she was a devout Christian, often writing to a young friend of hers and exaggerating her love for God. Her words were pious and fake, as she wanted to show her friend (who was deeply religious) that she was still maintaining a passion for God that she no longer truthfully exhibited.
