Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

When I was nine years old, I went to Kathy Fitzgibbon’s house and the two of us went on an adventure-walk to Perry Creek.  It was great fun but in the end we both fell into the shallow waters and were filled with mud.  Kathy’s mother was furious that we had gone to the creek.  I went home terrified that my mother would be equally angry.  Instead, she asked me where I had been; told me to clean up and nothing more was said.   How blessed I was to have a mother that loved me unconditionally and allowed me to learn from my mistakes through the consequences of my decisions. I have treasured this memory of coming home to a safe harbor and on my spiritual journey, I try to create such a harbor within myself.  A harbor where I learn from my mistakes without judgement and I simply wash away remorse and bask in the loving mercy of my God.  This is true freedom! Daniel Berrigan who passed away this month wrote: “ Practically no one ...

Pope Francis in the beginning of his papal letter on mercy states that, “Jesus is the visible face of God’s mercy.”  This Advent I have been reflecting and reading about what that really means.  Pope Francis has designated from December 8 th – November 20 th 2016 the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy.  To me this begs the question what is mercy?  A few months ago I had a traumatic encounter with someone who publically insulted and lied about me.  I was very hurt that this person would think that way about me.  Yet I knew that mercy called me to love and more importantly forgive that person; not only for their sake, but for my own sake.  So that I could be completely free of the hurt that it had caused within me.  With the help of the Holy Spirit I am still working on forgiving that person.  My way of dealing with the pain was to pity the person.  I had thought that pity was being merciful; feeling sorry for the person becaus...