Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

I received a beautiful card in the mail a few weeks ago from Sr. Joan Duerst with the quote: “If there was no change, there would be no butterflies.” This simple yet profound quote passes through my mind every time I walked by the beautiful Ginkgo Biloba tree that stood outside of Dominican High school on my way to the Campus Ministry room. I greeted this tree every morning with a smile, because I was excited to see its stages of transition when the Fall season began. Sure enough, the Ginkgo Bilboa tree transformed into a radiant and golden work of art. One day, I decided to take a picture of the beautiful tree and I am very happy that I did because at the end of that day, all of its beautiful leaves blew away. The tree is now bare, but I am so grateful that I was able to journey with this tree, even if it was for a short while. The tree reminds me of myself in so many ways, because as I continue to transition, grow, and transform during my candidate year, I know ...

A couple of Sisters of mine just returned from fishing in the Clearwater River in Idaho where one caught a 20-pound steelhead, which is a species of salmon. (Or maybe trout.)   It is a magnificent fish that, because it is endangered, was released after a quick photo.             Steelhead migrate from the ocean to their ancient inland spawning ground – their reproductive home - traveling up to 800 miles, jumping fish ladders and swimming upstream in the process.   Wow!   What keeps the steelhead going? I don’t know…dead reckoning, magnetic fields, smells, instinct? There are lots of theories behind animal migration.   All I know is the steelhead persevere; they just do it… year after year after year after year… always moving toward that which beckons.   And by doing so, they produce new life. There are times in our own lives when we might feel as though we’re swimming upstream, fighting current,...