Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

During the past few days, I have been very mindful of my biological sister who lives in New Orleans. There have been several times in our lives (this time it is the destructive wind and rain of Hurricane Isaac), that I make a special point to connect – reminding her that I care about her and the things and people she cares about. Although there is no relationship like the one I have with my birth sister, I have always enjoyed extended circles of sisterhood. Several years ago, I responded to a call to enter religious life. I chose to share a life in common with a larger group – each one a sister to me. As with my biological family, we don’t all agree on all things. We do, however, desire a relationship with God and share a vision of seeking and fostering “right relationships among all of God’s people.” My circles of sisterhood are evolving- there are some new ones, others are growing. Even in times of challenges and conf...

Yesterday I attended a Mass and social to remember the founder of our Congregation, Fr. Samuel Mazzuchelli OP.  Fr. Samuel was an amazing man with values and compassion for all people that truly reflected the mission of Jesus.  But the event from yesterday that really stays with me was the message of the homilist who told us he was going to preach on Commitment in Color .  The homilist first referred to the readings of the 21 st Sunday of the year that spoke of commitment.  He then reflected on his first day of school in first grade with a brand new box of colors – there were no broken crayons and all had points.  He enthusiastically began to color the page the teacher had distributed.  His joy was dashed when another student told him he was doing it wrong – the sky was blue, not orange, and the teacher told him he was doing it wrong – he needed to stay in the lines.  The bottom line:  As followers of Jesus, we are all c...