Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

A year ago, shortly after beginning my itinerant Dominican journey, I ran across a passage from Ephesians about being rooted and grounded in love, and wrote a post about it. Two weeks ago I moved again, this time to the Collaborative Dominican Novitiate in St. Louis.   This year I join two novices and two co-directors from other Dominican congregations across the country.   At our opening prayer ritual, my ears perked up as I once again heard the words being read: “May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love…” What timing, to hear these words almost exactly one year later!   Kelly, Chuc, and I (the 2014-2015 novices) mingled soil from our various motherhouse grounds and planted small succulents that we’ll keep in our chapel throughout the year.   They will be reminders of our own growth, nurtured by soil from the holy places we’ve begun to call home. As we begin our novitiate journey, I’m glad that little ...

Like Roberta, who wrote for this blog last week, my heart is also heavy.   At this point, I actually hate to tune into the evening news.   We are bombarded with one story after another of our brothers and sisters suffering in some part of our earth – Iraq, Palestine, Africa, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Ferguson MO, and it continues.   So many places of humanitarian crisis!   Despite feeling utterly helpless, I am able to hold all these suffering people in my heart and prayer.   I know that our caring, compassionate God is with them. Fortunately, the last 5 minutes of the evening news does have a story about people who are making a difference in the lives of their brothers and sisters in their communities.   I am also encouraged by a poem written by Kaye Ashe, OP: The search – for self, for wisdom, for love, for truth, for justice, for God – is strenuous and unending. We need good companions in order to persevere in it. In...