Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

  In the liturgical calendar, January 25 is the feast for “the Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle.”   I always wonder why it’s not called the “Conversion of Saul into Paul”  because he certainly wasn’t a saint at the time he was knocked off his horse on the road to Damascus (though there is dispute about the horse) by a light and a voice that pierced his heart and mind.    That illumination and call reversed everything he thought he knew and believed.   He truly couldn’t be the same person after that encounter.   Our conversions are seldom so dramatic, but the experience of an encounter of the holy, of holy mystery, is life changing.   It might take much more time than it seemed to take Paul; it might take months, years, for us to process our understanding of the call in our lives, of being able to look at the pattern of the holy in our lives and see a path that leads to new insight and above all, change.   And it can be scary because ...

Ok, I am dating myself.   The song, Anticipation , came to mind as I considered this blog entry.   Written in 1971 by the singer, Carly Simon, the first words are: “We can never know about the days to come But we think about them anyway, yay” I am writing this long before it is due because I will be traveling.   And I am having lots to anticipate because I am one of two Sisters from Sinsinawa attending the closing events for 800 th Jubilee Year for the Order of Preachers in Rome. But from the place in time that I am writing, I am trying to temper my anticipation and expectations to be open to each unfolding moment of this global gathering of Dominicans - women and men. While Carly’s song is a love song and speaks of a particular relationship, for me in this moment, I am filled with humility and awe as hundreds of Dominicans from around the world gather and be in relationship with each other. This blog will be posted just as I return and in the future I will ...