Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

I’m someone who loves autumn, who revels in cool temperatures and “jeans and sweater weather,” who savors the deep blue of an October sky and colors of leaves in the changing light of shortening days.  I love autumn because it signals change, and I believe that we need change.   Whether we want to admit it or not, we grow because of change.   Change challenges us, whether it’s colder weather or a new idea.   As autumn changes give us diversity of colors, the gift of ephemeral beauty, so the changes we experience give us opportunities to rethink, re-evaluate,   re-wonder. Life lived in community, with women of shared values but diverse opinions, with those of shared faith but diverse insights, is life lived in the paradox of “stable changes.”     From the thermostat setting to what’s for dinner, to quirky senses of humor and musical tastes, the differences are always there, but layered through all that diversity are the deepest realities...

Mid-September, as the retreat team was ready to ‘show off’ our latest theme: Reflecting Christ for the first of many retreat groups, a powerful unplanned event took place on Saturday morning. As the people gathered for a presentation, one retreatant greeted me with excitement that she has just learned that she was to receive a new kidney that weekend.  Michelle had to leave asap. Taking her by the hand, we went into the conference room.  Fortunately the speaker had yet to start so I shared her news.  With several of her friends now rushing to give her hugs, one of the priests set off to get the oils for the sacrament of the sick. We prayed and blessed her and sent her on her way.  For her part, she told me that she had all she needed with her because of having to pack for the weekend.  And since she was a passenger to the retreat, her daughter could come to pick her up and head from our place in North Palm Beach and across the state to Tampa. The sur...