Love casts out fear, but we have to get over the fear in order

Hear the tender yet fiery words of Dorothy Day, who lived a life of service and sacrifice: “Love casts out fear, but we have to get over the fear in order to get close enough to love them.” In this saying lies the eternal struggle of the human heart, for while love is the power that heals, fear is the wall that keeps souls apart. To love is divine, but to overcome fear is the price of entering love’s sanctuary.

Day begins with the truth spoken since the ancients: love casts out fear. When love is present in fullness, fear loses its dominion. The heart no longer trembles at rejection, loss, or pain, for love gives courage that cannot be broken. Love is the flame that drives away the shadows, the light that banishes trembling from the soul.

Yet she adds the deeper wisdom: before love can conquer fear, one must first get over the fear enough to draw near. Fear bars the doorway—fear of being wounded, of being known, of being abandoned. Many turn back at this threshold, never stepping close enough to let love do its work. Day teaches that courage must precede love, for only the brave can open the door to its transforming fire.

The origin of this wisdom lies in Day’s own life, shaped by poverty, struggle, and radical compassion. She knew that to serve the poor, to embrace the broken, to love the forgotten, required first a breaking of fear—the fear of discomfort, of rejection, of danger. From her hands-on work in the Catholic Worker Movement, she spoke not theory but lived truth: love is impossible without the courage to step through fear.

Thus let this teaching endure: if you would taste the fullness of love, first confront the fear that keeps you apart. Take the step of courage, however trembling, for only then will love’s power cast out all dread and bring freedom. This is Dorothy Day’s gift to future generations—that love is stronger than fear, but only if we dare to approach it with open hands and unguarded hearts.