Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

I recently attended the wake of a friend’s father, where I ran into several other friends whom I had not seen for a while.   Laughing while swapping stories, one who knew I was newly professed said to another, ‘See, I told you she wouldn’t have changed”, to which I replied, “I might be a Sister but I’m still the same person!” As I drove away from the funeral home, my response echoed rather hollowly in my heart, a sure sign that it wasn’t exactly the truth.   Our essence is of God.   That doesn’t change, yet there is no denying that how I am in the world now does look and feel different…much like a rose bud in the early morning differs from one in full bloom in the late afternoon sun.   While each is still a rose, one is opened more fully to what it was meant to become. Religious life is one of the many ways God might call a person to be in the world.   Prayerful discernment of and responding to that call has opened my heart more fully and led to so man...

I was a first year novice in our Collaborative Dominican Noviate in St. Louis when Hurricane Katrina passed through New Orleans and the levees failed. Hundreds of thousands of us will always remember where we were when Katrina hit. We were shocked and devastated. And, it wasn’t just the levee system that failed residents (including my family) in the city I call home. I remember my Noviate community, including the two novice directors, who prayed with me and were sources of comfort for days, weeks and months following. They sat with me through my tears of grief and rage. I remember calling friends, who knew the city I knew, and crying together as we looked at images on tv and news web pages. As New Orleans and our country acknowledge the 10 year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, thousands offer prayers, support and help for all who were directly and indirectly affected by flood waters and system failures. Many continue to show up to help rebuild. Prayers, compassionate presence...