Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

Last week at meeting at Sinsinawa, our sister artist, Joeann Daley brought a kaleidoscope. Besides the fun we had passing the kaleidoscope around the circle, that kaleidoscope became a symbol of the group working together. As children most of us have played with a kaleidoscope that encloses colorful pieces which get reflected by three mirrors to give astonishing patterns.   This particular kaleidoscope, however, used only the colors it captured in the room. .   So as we looked through the kaleidoscope we were seeing beautiful patterned reflections of the people in the circle. How many times have I sat in a community circle?   Do I come there just to speak what I know or do I also try to listen deeply to each one?   In community we make new patterns as we reflect each others' thoughts back and forth and around the circle.   Thus our spirituality grows through community. Dominicans are called to practice community.   Community is much more than shari...

These past weeks prior to Holy Week, like many others, I’ve been watching the NCAA basketball tournament games leading up to the “Final Four.”   After each game, there is the celebration of the winning team and also the experience of loss for the team that did not “make the Final Four.” It occurred to me as I observed the loss and devastation of the team that did not move on to the next game, Holy Week is a week during which we recognize our losses.   And our losses, as humans, are many:   a game, financial security, health, a job, reputation, dignity, relationships, a child, a parent, life as we once knew it …     The litany is endless.   We remember that Jesus experienced the depth of human loss.   He endured the most excruciating loss of all – the sense of being totally deserted, forsaken.   “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me,” he cried.   But Jesus remembered, and we also remember Abba’s promise to us in the words from Je...