Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

Whether we are involved in education in any way or not, it always seems that August/September ushers in a new year of possibilities.   Students return to school and most parishes, after a slow summer of activities, begin to crank into full gear.   During August Sister Geri and I have been very busy as “itinerant” Dominicans, traveling to parishes to do workshops for pastoral councils, catechists, or other lay ministry groups.   It is so nourishing to my spirit to meet people who are truly “on fire with the Word” and as disciples of Jesus want to take part in the building of the reign of God.   Last night we traveled to Russellville, KY, where our Sister Patricia Sullivan ministers to the Hispanic community.   But we learned that she also makes a big impact on the parish religious education program.   Would we expect any less from a Dominican teacher and preacher???? All of us are on this wonderful journey of faith with others who truly seek the Living G...

Mary Oliver reminds us today about what's really important in each of our lives.....loving the world. Messenger By Mary Oliver My work is loving the world. Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird— equal seekers of sweetness. Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums. Here the clam deep in the speckled sand. Are my boots old? Is my coat torn? Am I no longer young, and still half-perfect? Let me keep my mind on what matters, which is my work, which is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished. The phoebe, the delphinium. The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture. Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here, which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart and these body-clothes, a mouth with which to give shouts of joy to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam, telling them all, over and over, how it is that we live forever. What has astonished you recently?

I was in my early 30's when I began my journey to become a Dominican Sister of Sinsinawa.   I wasn't so sure about this decision to enter the community but I was all for giving God the benefit of MY doubt!   In fact, I gave God two years to prove this path was worthy of my pursuit.   I was leaving a perfectly good career following the corporate path to. . .? The reality of those early years was the experience of God's pursuit of me through daily life in community and ministry; during prayer both communal and personal; in study and so much more. Years later - with the "yes" for each step on the incremental road to Profession of Vows - unto death - I experienced a profound gratitude for all that I had lived through, the graces and challenges of community life, the many people I had met in ministry who were my teachers of my informal school of life, of the opportunities I would have never experienced on that corporate path and - yes - so much more. Not only ...