Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

In the Northwoods where I live it is starting to be the season of Fall – my favorite season. I love the chill in the air and the crisp leaves on the ground, but most of all I love the colors of the trees as they change from green to brilliant red or yellow. Often, as I’m driving along a wooded area I see green, green, green, and then a splash of red. Only one branch has turned red on an otherwise green tree. How does this happen? This phenomenon speaks to me of Mother Nature’s sense of humor and sensitivity to our human appreciation of surprises. People can be like trees, too. We can rub shoulders with someone day after day and never really notice their gifts until, all of a sudden, they do something or say something that is so thoughtful that it leaves us almost breathless – like a splash of red in the midst of green. I am challenged to pay attention to these otherwise ordinary moments and let my mind and heart be open to the new story that I’m being told. What or who has surprised yo...

When I was a child fall/autumn was my least favorite season.     It was too cold to go swimming and too warm to go ice skating—my two favorite activities.     Now as an adult, I love fall.     It tells me so much about life.     The trees are radiant with reds, oranges, yellows and browns.     Then they graciously drop those leaves, and give them back to the soil.     In these days of change and challenge, we, too, are asked to drop our radiant adornment, to let go of what would not survive the winter so we can be transformed in the spring.     It’s a perfect season for long walks, of enjoying the colors of October, then the letting go of November.     What will you be challenged to let go of this fall?     LouAnne Willette, OP Austin, TX

I bet like most people, you appreciate beauty. I have found myself startled by beauty this Fall. I turn the corner and am dazzled by a gloriously red leaved Maple tree. It seems lit up from within. I turn again and my  breathe is taken away by tiny bright yellow leaves hanging on the tips of bare branches and arranged like ornaments.  If we only open our eyes to the magnificence of our natural environment, we can appreciate these manifestations of the Divine and take a moment to appreciate and give thanks for such beauty. The other night I looked up and was stopped in my tracks by the beauty of the crescent moon juxtaposed by Venus, a bright jewel in the dark sky.    And then there is the freshness of dawn, beautifully painted every morning, fleeting but truly glorious. So even though we humans have caused and are causing so much damage to our environment we are still held in mercy and beauty. May we work towards truly appreciating and giving thanks. Doing a bet...

I received a beautiful card in the mail a few weeks ago from Sr. Joan Duerst with the quote: “If there was no change, there would be no butterflies.” This simple yet profound quote passes through my mind every time I walked by the beautiful Ginkgo Biloba tree that stood outside of Dominican High school on my way to the Campus Ministry room. I greeted this tree every morning with a smile, because I was excited to see its stages of transition when the Fall season began. Sure enough, the Ginkgo Bilboa tree transformed into a radiant and golden work of art. One day, I decided to take a picture of the beautiful tree and I am very happy that I did because at the end of that day, all of its beautiful leaves blew away. The tree is now bare, but I am so grateful that I was able to journey with this tree, even if it was for a short while. The tree reminds me of myself in so many ways, because as I continue to transition, grow, and transform during my candidate year, I know ...