Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

I love Summer not for the usual reasons we hear proclaimed, but because that is the season of many celebrations of who we are as Dominicans of Sinsinawa: Community Days, Jubilees, Receptions, and Professions.  Community Days is a time we come together as a community to pray, study, plan for the future of our Congregation, and re-connect with one another. This past weekend after having said “goodbye” to the sister friends who live far away from the motherhouse where I am in ministry, as I was sorting through papers that had accumulated in my book bag, I came across a reflection I had composed 9 years ago in preparation for Final Profession.  Quite frankly, I was “blown away” by what I had written.   The Spirit had certainly been with me during the creation of that document.  Among the many thoughts I found in the reflection was a question one of the sisters in my discernment circle had asked me, “What did you learn through your experience of liv...

Yesterday as I was on my way to Dubuque, I was aware of a train on the track that ran parallel with the highway.   At the end of the train was another engine.   How odd I thought remembering the trains from my youth.   I grew up in a small town having multiple train tracks and trains traversing the town many times during the day.   Our home was situated a block away from intersecting tracks.   Needless to say, we were often stopped on our way to or from somewhere by a train.   We looked for the caboose because that marked the end of the train.    Eventually, train cars were redesigned and cabooses were no longer needed on the trains; and I missed them.   Cabooses had 2 jobs -- to mark the end of the train and more importantly, to provide stability for the train – keep it on the tracks. I began musing about the connection between cabooses and an upcoming gathering we call Community Days. Community Days has several purposes, includin...

These past several weeks have been an extended time of family celebration - a time truly representative of what religious life, Sinsinawa Dominican life, and life, in general, is about. A time of honoring the cycle of life and the family that makes that journey with us.   The Celebration of my first profession of vows on August 2 came on the heels of a huge family reunion that we call Community Days.   These distinct yet intertwined joyful events had as bookends goodbyes said to two of our beloved Sisters - Florus Castle and Jean Brennan.   As I sought the mercy of God and of all, Florus and Jean had fulfilled their profession promises, ‘even unto death’.   What an extraordinarily graced cycle of birth, life, death, and birth into new life! During these sacred celebrations, my family experienced the truth that they were not losing a sister (or mother) but are now loved by and part of a much bigger family… a family of Sisters, Brothers, Associates, Mound brot...

I find myself reflecting on Sr. Peggy Ryan’s question posted on Catherine’s Café on Monday:   “ And you, where and how has God’s grace come to you? ” God’s grace comes to me always in so many different ways.   Fortunately, sometimes I am actually aware of those circumstances of grace.   God’s grace comes to me: ü   During my period of reflective and contemplative prayer each morning ü   When God reminds me of something I need to do ü   When God coaches me on what to write at this moment ü   Through an unexpected call from one of my sisters ü   Through the kind, understanding compassion of one of my sisters when I was under stress yesterday Yesterday our Congregation, the Dominican sisters of Sinsinawa, began gathering for the annual event we call Community Days. God’s grace is always in abundance during those days.   God’s grace came to me: ü   Through all the hugs of greeting we extend to one another ü ...

I am still unpacking the rich, deep, inclusive, multi-cultural, inter-generational experience of our recently concluded community days.  Like Kathy in the previous blog, I felt overwhelmed at times.  Planning for our future, as necessary as it is in our journey together as a congregation, move me way out of my comfort zone!  What held it together for me though, was our grounding it all in an atmosphere of prayer.  The diversity of music, instruments, voices, art forms, and cultures employed to do this, and the way it was interspersed with silence, gave me moments throughout our days to return to the center, tap into Holy Wisdom deep within and offer the fruits of my contemplation to my table conversations.   I left exhausted, yes, but so grateful for who we are together, and what we are about as Sinsinawa Dominicans.   Amidst challenging moments, what grounds you? Com Gail Jagroop, OP St. Joseph, Trinid...