Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

When I first began my journey as a Dominican of Sinsinawa, I learned that prayer, which had always been a force in my life, is one of the pillars of Dominican life.   Now prayer takes as many forms as there are people.   One form of prayer which became very powerful for me this past week is Community Prayer, specifically gathering together as a community to pray for an explicit purpose.   One of our co-workers Scott suffered a stroke a little over 3 weeks ago.   Scott is also a member of group of us who eat lunch together daily.   Scott and his family have been in my thoughts and prayers nearly every minute since learning of his stroke.   On Monday at 12:15 pm Mound sisters, co-workers, and guests came together in our Gathering Place to pray for healing for Scott and his family.   We learned in his wife’s journal on CaringBridge website she invited their extended family and friends to join the Dominicans in prayer at that time wherever they happe...

One of the things that is very important to Dominicans is hospitality.   It is expressed in many diverse ways and yet is easily recognized when you experience it.    It's something that as Dominicans we come to expect when we visit any community.   And I am always so grateful when I do. The Atlanta Penn community, where I visited this weekend, is a great example of the Dominican hospitality.   The community members include three sisters, a candidate and two Dominican Volunteers and their ages range from 22 to 80-something.   This weekend they welcomed into their home three of us as overnight guests providing a warm welcome, good meals, and a bed (or sofa) for the night.   Besides us, another 25 guests, associates, friends and others from their Just Faith group, joined us on Saturday evening for a gathering after we celebrated together the confirmation of one of their community members at the local parish.   There were lots of stories, laughs ...