Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

As I contemplate my perpetual profession of vows I am savoring some of the words and phrases in the profession ritual, like "to the honor of the Almighty God", "even unto death," "the mercy of God and yours," "Yes, this is what I choose," "poverty," "chastity," "obedience," "vow yourself to God and to live in this Sinsinawa Dominican Congregation," "constitution," and "trusting in God's faithfulness." Wow! How awesome this is!  How impossible to live this out by human standards!   I am so grateful for the promises implied in the words of profession.   As I vow myself to God, implicit there is the assurance that I am not alone.  God will be my strength, my comfort, my consolation, my joy and my Love, even unto death.  Am I not asking for God's mercy?  As I place my hands in the hands of my prioress and vow to live this out in the Sinsinawa Dominican Congregation, impl...

Luke 9:60, (“Let the dead bury the dead”) has always challenged me.   As I (and many) have struggled this past week with the loss of our dear friend and sister, Rose Marie Conway, and brother, Matt Walsh, OP, I wonder all the more how Jesus could be so callous in his response to the young man who simply wanted to bury his father before following Christ.   Seems reasonable and respectful.   It wasn’t until I heard today’s Gospel with a new set of ears that I grasped what Jesus might have meant.   In today’s reading, Jesus talks about God being a God of the living, rather than of the dead.   Our bodies, while holy, are merely vessels that carry the essence of our creation, our Spirit.   When the body stops functioning, it dies.   The spirit, the Divine spark in us, however, goes on living! God is still the God of Rose Marie and Matt ~ the God of the LIVING Rose Marie and Matt! And that is the Good News! Since I arrived at the novitiate in August,...