Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

Where I am in retreat ministry we are transitioning from one retreat mode to another.   Summer seems to be a slower pace.   Really it is only different kinds of retreats than the last ten months.   But another transition has been taken place at the retreat house - a technology one.   And it has our IT person frazzled. Bringing our network technology up to date and ensuring all computers talk "nice" within the network has also shown that our systems have been harboring viruses that the very good protection program could not detect.   Clearing them out has not followed the usual plan. In the meantime, I have contracted my own personal virus - a summer cold...in Florida!   Not the usual plan. These realities got me thinking that each of us may also be harboring spiritual viruses, emotional woes or psychological impasses.   It takes courage to ask for Divine help (which often comes through human sources) to identify and receiv...

When I think about where I was at this time last year, I'm amazed both by how my life has been transformed...and also by how familiar it feels.  Early last March, I was freshly recovered after a 4-day hospitalization and month long leave of absence from my job after getting hit by a car while riding my bike.  I was beginning the last month of a 7 year career as a disaster recovery consultant and everyone I knew was asking me if I was having second thoughts about "leaving my life behind to join the nuns."  I had some second thoughts, it's true--but since arriving at the Mound last summer I haven't once regretted my decision to become a Candidate with the Sinsinawa Dominicans. Now I'm in Atlanta: living in community, reading the Old Testament, studying theology, deepening my prayer life, reconnecting with old friends, participating in Just Faith Ministries, and riding my bike all over the place!  On the one hand, the familiar, secure life that I'd estab...

I’ve been humbled again and again in my ministry with homeless women at Transitions in Spokane.   A sampling: Next time Election Day rolls around, vote.   Women, who had previously been denied that right, proudly stepped up and registered in late October, then voted.   When we’re called for jury duty, let’s serve without grumbling.   I’ve met women who yearn to serve for the paltry daily fee.   Sure, that’s probably not the motivation our judicial system wants, but it is a wake-up call, reminding me not to take for granted the many blessings of my own life. Several women had tears in their eyes at Christmas, upon receiving a roll of toilet paper as part of their Christmas gift bag.   Wow. Getting high fives and shouts of ‘you’re awesome’, simply for making Ants on a Log - that snack of peanut butter and raisins atop celery.   I made them because I have good childhood memories of my mom making them; I thought the women might like them,...

"Wake Up the World" challenges those of us who live the consecrated life. This is the theme of the Year of Consecrated Life celebrated in the United States. Both Kathy Flynn and Roberta Popara have mentioned this in their blogs.  The Church observes this year from November 30, 2014 through February 2, 2016 (not an ordinary year). To what are we called to "wake up the world?" To injustices? To the beauty of our world? To the truth of the gospel? To the privilege and responsibility of every person to   make a difference for good? To "wake up the world" implies that we need to be fully alive and alert. How do I awaken the world around me? I start where I am, with the gifts and experiences I have, and intentionally live what I profess. I am summoned to go beyond my 'comfort' zone. The way I live has the power to wake me up and others around me. Fortunately,   I am in community with many committed religious and together we can respond to ...

In the flurry of these holidays I have been struck much by the push and the pull, the beauty and the pain, brute strength and hope.   I so enjoy the loveliness of the lights, the invitation to be quiet.   And when I seek out some of this solitude I feel the angst of the year’s ending.   Hunger, violence, racial inequity, addiction to gratification all want to crowd out the hope that the birth of a child born in love and poverty brings. It reminds me of a favorite Christmas quote from Rilke:     “Dear Mr. Kappus, celebrate Christmas in this devout feeling, that perhaps He needs this very anguish of yours in order to begin; these very days of your transition are perhaps the time when everything in you is working at Him, as you once worked at Him in your childhood, breathlessly. Be patient and without bitterness, and realize that the least we can do is to make coming into existence no more difficult for Him than the earth does for spring when it wants to ...