Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

I love water. I love to be by it, on it and in it. Perhaps it’s a genetic predisposition but I find my soul just resonates in the presence of water. It can be smooth as glass, white capped, whipped by wind or tidal waves, large and small with their regular rhythm resonating along a shoreline. I love water’s many presentations and how it interacts with the ever changing light. I am a swimmer. After over a year of not swimming I am gratefully fully vaccinated and have found a local pool where I can book a lane for lap swimming. So, I am thrilled to be back in the water.   It’s a saltwater pool and I have been going early at the beginning of each new day.    I love the interchange between air and water as I move the earth and fire of my body through these precious elements. St Catherine of Siena said, “As the fish is in the water and the water is in the fish, so I am in God and God is in me.”   What a wonderful metaphor for the experience of being enfolded, submerged in...

Okay, I admit it: I have a secret soft spot for weeds.   I’m not talking about the armies of weeds that wreak havoc on your garden; I’ve waged war on plenty of those.   But whenever I see a lonely little weed poking up through a sliver-thin crack in the pavement, I can’t help but cheer for it. I think it’s because it saw an opportunity where no one else did.   Other plants wouldn’t dream of taking root in such an inhospitable place, where even if they do manage to grow, they’re likely to get pulled or sprayed with weed killer.   But this little weed… well, not even pesky humans with all their concrete and chemicals could get in its way.   It sunk its roots deep and grew up boldly to the sunlight.   I’d like to be more like that little weed.   So my prayer today is not that God would make me strong and majestic like the trees or lovely like the flowers.   No, I just pray that God would take me, in all my weakness, amid all the obstacles of...

What is calling you to newness this season? The tree out my window, barren a month ago, is now rich with new green leaves. So many seeds buried for the winter are sprouting, and the songs of birds announce hatchlings. Recently I responded to a call to dream and plan with a group that is taking a long look at our stewardship of the land at Sinsinawa, the Mound.  On Memorial Day, Mark Shepard came as a resource person to the group.  His vision of permaculture agriculture helps me to see that care of people, concern for fair distribution of resources and care of earth is one rich piece.  We hope to visit his farm, New Forest Farm, Viola, Wisconsin this summer. (see www.newforestfarm.net ) to see how permaculture might apply to the Mound. The call that I experienced in my youth, to give my life to care for others, and to search for and teach truth  has come together in a new way. We, Sinsinawa sisters, stated our vision and mission for 2011-2016 thi...

I was recently jolted from my complacency about my relationship to Earth by an Easter greeting from Joy, Promoter of Peace and Justice for the Sinsinawa Dominicans.  She wrote, As the Easter Season unfolds in the month of April, this is a good time to consider how precious and fragile our Earth home is. And then she sent me the Mobilize Earth website, where I read For Earth Day 2012 we are mobilizing the planet simply to say one thing: the Earth won't wait. It seems that environmental issues have been put on the back burner as we are in the midst of a global recession. It is time for us to Mobilize the Earth™ and speak with one voice, one message. http://www.roadtorioplus20.org/mobilize_the_earth_on_april_22 How do I become part of a movement to Mobilize Earth beyond the simple personal measures that I take with along with the women with whom I live? Sure we do the ordinary things, recycle, ride our bikes to work, buy locally and seasonably, keep our ...