Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

I have always loved this passage of scripture where Jesus says, “I have come so that you may have life and have it to the fullest.”   It makes me wonder how I can have life and have it to the fullest in a world that is so seemingly messed up.     And I am not always that all together myself. Would Jesus say the same thing today?   I wonder about this.   What does it mean to have life and not just life, but to the fullest?   Does it mean that I do whatever it takes to make myself happy at the expense of someone else?   Does it mean that I ignore the suffering of my fellow human beings? Or does it mean that I live my life in such a way that I not only take care of myself- mind, body, and spirit, and that I also try to help others so that they may also be able to have life and hopefully to the fullest. Having life and having it to the fullest is not as easy as it sounds.   It takes tremendous work also hope, courage and perseverance.   ...

Topics to blog about were aplenty this month: leaving the Collaborative Dominican Novitiate in St. Louis, good-byes there and here at the Mound, hellos, transitions, attending a preaching conference, etc.   Then last night (July 1) happened. We were all asked to listen to and discuss a talk given by our Prioress, which centered on basic assumptions we hold surrounding our lives here and on mission.   My local community and I met and had a wonderful , lively discussion that lasted well over 3 hours!   This was on the heels of lively table discussion earlier that day at lunch with a different group of Sisters. I am thrilled for this opportunity and specific invitation to enter into the very Dominican tradition of dialogue and disputatio , a tradition and practice that doesn’t end with the close of a day.   Make no mistake, it doesn’t necessarily mean agreement.   The dialogue is open-ended, continuing, and requires a willingness to deeply listen to each o...