Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

I’ve been reflecting on what it means to “be called.” I’ve decided, at least for now, that a “call” isn’t to something or some place “out there,” but is rather a day-to-day whisper that each of us receives.  Moment-by-moment and breath-by-breath, God calls us to holiness.  No matter what we do or how old we are or where we find ourselves in life, we are called to holiness.  What a gift.                         This morning, I walked to my Liberation Theology class, being held off-campus some distance from my house.  “A good stretch of the legs,” to quote a line from “The Quiet Man.”  At one point, I caught myself looking ahead through the flakes of a snowstorm, for the traffic light at a major intersection, still blocks ahead.  I became immediately and acutely aware that by doing that, I was missing the holiness of that v...

How do women preach?  It takes imagination, courage and willingness to say yes to a request to speak to others from our faith and contemplation. As a community of preachers we support each one in her preaching.  Recently, a number of us braved cold Wisconsin winds as we trudged to the state capital to be present as our sister, Maureen McDonnell, gave the opening invocation for the official state celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.  Maureen, who is well known in Madison for her work in social justice, used this occasion, not only to pray, but also to preach truth. “This day reminds us,” she said “that our brother, Martin, lives and leads us …           By his words and actions     By his deep silence and communion with his God, from whom his words and actions flowed.” She recalled that Martin spoke against war saying that the U.S. is “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world.”  This kind of preachi...