Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

One of the things that is very important to Dominicans is hospitality.   It is expressed in many diverse ways and yet is easily recognized when you experience it.    It's something that as Dominicans we come to expect when we visit any community.   And I am always so grateful when I do. The Atlanta Penn community, where I visited this weekend, is a great example of the Dominican hospitality.   The community members include three sisters, a candidate and two Dominican Volunteers and their ages range from 22 to 80-something.   This weekend they welcomed into their home three of us as overnight guests providing a warm welcome, good meals, and a bed (or sofa) for the night.   Besides us, another 25 guests, associates, friends and others from their Just Faith group, joined us on Saturday evening for a gathering after we celebrated together the confirmation of one of their community members at the local parish.   There were lots of stories, laughs ...

Recently, our household, two sisters and two women, who hope to become associates,  circled together for a study session. Reading, " Being Dominican and Renewing the Face of the Earth" by our sister, Kaye Ash, started the conversation. A question from it stays with me: " Do our mourning and our deep gladness meet our world's deep hunger?" So many things to mourn! What are you mourning?   Racism in the aftermath of Michael Brown?   Denial of climate change?   Indifference to mass incarceration? (those are some of mine). What a gift to be able to share questions! What a blessing to be able to set aside time to study! No doubt each of us was born to study or else why would one of a child's first words be " why ?" My questions become more complex and more necessary as I seek not only to know why but also to know how to make a difference.   Study helps me to see a pathway through my questions, and also to frame new ones. Dominican wom...

Today when I went to the library for fun films, my eyes lit on a new book.   Zealot, The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslam.  Jesus is zealous for the Kingdom of God.  The book that I had not planned to see is an instrument of God's call for me.  I am called to a great adventure-- to be a zealous for God's Kingdom. Zeal according to the dictionary is a strong feeling of interest and enthusiasm that makes someone very eager to do. Zeal to be effective, however, needs to be tempered by wisdom.   And so I frequently gather with others who are also seeking in order to fine-tune my hearing. Where I live circles of sisters and associates gather monthly to share and listen to each other. Each brings into the circle where she has been during the month. Then each takes in the wisdom of the circle in order to become genuinely zealous for God's adventure.     Together we discern where our zeal is needed.   Where are you being cal...