Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

Do you ever have a moment of ‘communion’ that you know you must take notice of?  It is not quite an ‘ahaa’ moment.  Rather it is a sort of soul-stirring that can make one ponderous, curious, scratching one’s head and insistently aware. Easter Wednesday I kept thinking about my friend ‘Pam’.  She was a thousand or so miles away from me.  She lived with a debilitating and life-threatening disease. It was no longer easy for her to talk on the phone.  So occasionally I would send her a phone text.  Easter Wednesday morning I sent her a text writing ‘a gentle hug and my love. . .no need to reply’.  The very next day I learned that she had requested an ambulance ride from the hospital back to our Motherhouse.  Once ‘home’ Pam quickly and quietly breathed her last. What I failed to recognize is that Pam had in fact ‘initiated the contact', this communion.  It was her life-loving spirit who had...

In the past week, I’ve received the gift of diversity in music by listening to a ten-piece brass ensemble, a symphony orchestra, and a chamber choir.  As my ears, my head, and my heart resonate with all the kinds of music I heard I’ve been pondering the connection between these experiences and being a person of faith.  One of the singers said to me, after I complimented her on the great sound her group created, that it is “as much about listening as it is about singing.”  As Dominicans we pay special attention to listening – for that is the root meaning of obedience. I can listen to music mindlessly – it’s simply background noise -- but I can also listen mindfully – trying to hear the different voices of viola, cello, French horn or the altos and tenors amid the sopranos and basses.  When I do that kind of listening, I am awarded with an “aha!” moment when the multiple layers stand out and then blend together, when I realize how rich and deep is the sound because ...