Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

Sometimes I am so surprised how God enters into my day.  This can be a smile on someone’s face when I am overworked and tired. It is refreshing to see. It relaxes me a bit. Sometimes it is an encouraging word or a good conversation where deep values are shared.  My inner self, my spirit is renewed and inspired when I can think, ‘O thank you God for being with me’. Decisions are hard at times.  Recently I listened to Anne Murray singing ‘lean on me when you’re not strong, and I´ll be your friend, I´ll help you carry on… we all need somebody to lean on…. I f there is a load that you have to carry on, I am just up the road, just call on me when you want me, just call on me…’ I found courage in her words, the rhythm of the song, the meaning it had for me in my busyness. I had a report to finish and I had too many interruptions, but good interruptions… my work! So I leaned on God and begged for the help I needed that day. I often do this. My Dominican life is...

How well do you know yourself? What helps you go deeper into the mystery of your true Self? As a spiritual g uide I am often exploring questions like this with the people with whom I meet and most especially with myself. In the past I thought that focusing on myself was perhaps too self-centered. Over the years however I realized it is essential to know myself. Catherine of Siena, a   14 th  century  Dominican, steeped in contemplation and action , stresses that the journey towards God was also a journey into herself.  The place within “s he called the  ‘ interior cell ’  or the  ‘ cell of the heart ’  where she understood experientially and most fully God’s boundless love for her and all humanity . ”   (Mary O’Driscoll, OP) This journey to know yourself is a life-long journey.  There are many opportunities that can help you go deeper into the mystery of your true Self. Daily contemplative prayer, faith-sharing groups, spiritua...