Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

Where I dwell, I witness Creation's resources being shared. Deer, rabbit, squirrel, sandhill, oriel, frog and me. Turkeys strut. Red wings and mourning doves eat from the same table. Wild flowers, grasses, weeds and trees converse in the wind. Fireflies blink to the starlit sky.  Diversity, thankful for the other's gift, enabling all to live. Together we pray and converse, sharing the collective wisdom. Unknowingly or perhaps knowingly, we weave a tapestry that reveals the Devine's portrait! Without God's presence Eden's Garden in the Cosmic  womb would not exist.   How do you contribute to the Community's tapestry? Will you join the sisterhood?   Caroline Sullivan, OP DePere, WI

My living area is so quiet and seems so empty. A Sister of Charity, with whom I have shared community for seven years, has moved back to the city where her motherhouse is, Cincinnati. At first I was looking forward to how I could spread out and have the whole floor to myself. I wouldn't have to worry about her moving my things or being annoyed when I could hear her phone conversations. As the day of departure drew closer I began to focus on what I would miss. Dee and I prayed together each weekday morning, a time we both treasured. When we had a disagreement I always knew we would resolve it because we both worked on being forgiving persons. Besides, Dee never held a grudge. She did many thoughtful things around the house, such as baking breads and cookies, buying treats she knew I liked, and taking care of minor repairs.  She truly embodies the spirit of her congregation--charity. She has a very compassionate heart, and she not only prayed for those who were in special need...

I can honestly say I have never experienced God as a gendered Being. God has always been a mysterious presence, a constant – sometimes loud, sometimes deathly still - powerful, loving presence that I could experience anywhere, everywhere.  Sometimes, I have experienced God as an absent presence, when I have longed to know God as a “being” that could be physically clung to.  Have there been times in your life when you absolutely wanted to physically hug God, to feel God’s tender caress? Have there been times when, truthfully, you just wanted to grab God by the ankles and never let go? Maybe that’s where community steps in – not to fill a void – but to stand in as the physical presence of God.   I am grateful for all of the many types of community into which God has either placed or led me – my family of origin, the four other women with whom I currently live, the broader Sinsinawa Dominican family, and the many people with whom I have worshipped, played and mini...

One joy of blogging on Catherine’s Café is reflecting on the other blogs.   So here goes it! Have you participated in any cultural exchanges lately? I enjoyed celebrating the 5 th anniversary of a local pastor, who not only is a great preacher, but also a recently elected judge in juvenile court. “Children must not be shackled when they come to this court!” he recently declared. The pastor who gave the sermon at the event is another great preacher, who preached that the preacher also must heal his/herself of his/her own pain and sin.   “Preach till the chains fall off! He proclaimed in his black preaching cadence with his Lutheran pastor soul. How are you aware of God's presence in your life? As I participated in the above service, I let the beat of the drums and the harmony of the hymns penetrate my heart and soul.   (I am not good at clapping and so my body kept still).   But God was there.   It was a God moment as I sat there 2.5 miles from whe...

At a recent regional meeting in Montana with our sisters and associates we were asked during prayer to picture a scene from nature that spoke to us. Living in Alaska my picture included snow-capped mountains, wild flowers, warbling birds and the ocean with its whales. I thought especially of the whales breaching, their huge majestic bodies coming straight up from the water. I thought of them bubble feeding, when they gather in a circle, rise up from the water and open their mouths to feed on the krill that come to the surface. These are awesome sights, but I see them very rarely--they are a special gift. Most of the time I know the whales are in the sea, but I don't see any sign of them. Once in a while I might see a spout of water which signifies their presence or a fin rising from the water. This is a good way for me to think of God's presence in my life.  Like the whales God is always present, is always there, but I only get a glimpse now and then, perhaps in a sacr...

These are uncertain and troubling times in our nation and world – even a cursory glance at the headlines reveal that.  Speaking of joy might seem naïve.  Yet joy is not a happy-go-lucky, carefree attitude or a Pollyanna-ish perky positivity ungrounded in reality.  Ultimately, joy is not something that we can manufacture from within ourselves.   Joy comes from the Holy Spirit, as we are reminded in Galatians 5:22.   In Jesus’ last discourse, he speaks tenderly to his disciples: “these things I have spoken to you, so that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be full” (Jn 15:11).   Immediately before Jesus suffered and died, he gathered those he loved and spoke of the fullness of joy!   Clearly, the joy Jesus spoke of can coexist with pain and suffering. “Be joyful though you have considered all the facts,” wrote Wendell Berry in his poem “Manifesto: the Mad Farmer Liberation Front.”   As Christians committed to the common good, with a p...

A professor teaching a class to medical interns wanted them to develop compassion and so asked them to reflect on three questions each night: 1) What inspired you? 2) What touched or moved you? 3) What surprised you? This exercise helped the interns to be more aware of their patients as persons and led them to be more caring and compassionate doctors. I decided to try this myself.  On some days it took me a while to think of what surprised me, but often it was something small, such as a smile from a stranger walking by or a pleasant conversation on the phone with customer service.  I didn't have a hard time with happenings that touched or moved me--there were many, such as parishioners warmly welcoming a stranger into their midst, a teenage boy offering to clean the church, a man tenderly assisting his disabled wife from the car.  And what inspired me most was the way a woman who is a pancreatic cancer survivor lives her daily life. Her faith and her courage ...

Ever have one of those…days, weeks, months...fill in the blank?   Speaking of blanks, my mind is just that.   Blank.   Nothing.   Nada.   What?   Well, just because a woman is in a religious order doesn’t mean she has it all together all of the time!   What have I been doing? How has life been going in Spokane in Novitiate Year Two? There’s too much to write about. Remember when as a kid you would take a stack of index cards, draw a different picture at the bottom of each, and then flip through them quickly … making the cards look like a moving picture?   Sure you do.   Well, here’s my Novitiate ~ Part II in a stack of cards with words; close your eyes and use your imagination.   On second thought, open them or you won’t be able to read this. Spokane, laser tag (yep!), granola, sadness, gladness, community, St. Anne’s, working together, the Hearth, children, laughing, crying, homesick, praying, New Leaf, Gonzaga, Service Learning, p...

Last month, my family had a wedding.  My nephew, the oldest son of my twin sister, was married.  It was amazing to share in this journey with my twin as she and her husband accompanied their son and his bride-to-be in this life transition.  Some of the accompaniment was financial, some sharing included plain old practical advice, but most of it involved trying to move out of the way as the young couple negotiated all that it means to start a new life together…for two to become one.  Our families are often signposts for us.  They point us to the ways God finds us and loves us.   They remind us of God’s call to mercy, to generosity, and to our vocation to be God’s presence in good times and bad.  What a gift!!! Who is a signpost of God for you today? Peggy Ryan, OP Whitefish Bay, WI