Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

Recently I was asked to share with a group of people on the topic: " Encountering God in the Consecrated Life."   I do, most certainly as I follow the Dominican ideals of prayer, study, community and ministry.   But I have encountered God in the most humbling of ways over the past weeks: In a young woman with Lupus in the RCIA class still questioning God: "Why me?" But at the same time recognizing that her illness has brought her closer to God. In a medical doctor recently diagnosed with MS, coming to terms with her illness and realizing that she is more understanding now toward her patients. In a mother and son who give of their time once a week to tend the garden. In the sister I live with who puts up with my quirks. In a father and his two sons who gave so generously of their time and expertise to build a Marian grotto at Dominican Wellspring.  Even in the kids from a school opposite who call me Granny! They challenge me to forgive seven...

When I first began my journey as a Dominican of Sinsinawa, I learned that prayer, which had always been a force in my life, is one of the pillars of Dominican life.   Now prayer takes as many forms as there are people.   One form of prayer which became very powerful for me this past week is Community Prayer, specifically gathering together as a community to pray for an explicit purpose.   One of our co-workers Scott suffered a stroke a little over 3 weeks ago.   Scott is also a member of group of us who eat lunch together daily.   Scott and his family have been in my thoughts and prayers nearly every minute since learning of his stroke.   On Monday at 12:15 pm Mound sisters, co-workers, and guests came together in our Gathering Place to pray for healing for Scott and his family.   We learned in his wife’s journal on CaringBridge website she invited their extended family and friends to join the Dominicans in prayer at that time wherever they happe...

What is prayer? There have been many times in which I have asked myself this question. I also know that there are endless amounts of answers, definitions, and interpretations of what prayer is according to Saints, theologians, women and men religious, social justice activists, and so on. And yet, I myself have not found an answer that has centered me. Also, as I am Candidate within a Religious Order, I become frustrated with myself at times, because I do not feel comfortable with a “traditional” style of prayer in which I close my eyes, fold my hands together, recite prayers, or sit in silence. Especially as a Dominican, I know that I must root myself in the tradition of contemplation and bearing the fruits of that contemplation. For me, as a woman of African descent, I have an understanding that prayer and spiritual practices are at the foundation of my heritage, since the beginning of humanity on the continent of Africa. That being said, I have turned to my ancestral community f...