Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

Lately, the concept of   Hospitality   has been in the forefront of my days.     Even the Scriptural readings for this past Sunday have focused on offering hospitality – Abraham and Sarah greeting and providing a meal for travelers outside their tent, Martha and Mary providing food & beverages and a listening ear when Jesus came to enjoy their company.     I recently read a novel called  Martha  based upon the Mary, Martha, and Lazarus stories in the Gospel. Throughout the story, gracious hospitality was extended to guests who appeared at their gate.     My sisters and a cousin came to visit the home where I live last weekend.  In that case, the hospitality was reciprocal.  Since I am still in full-time ministry and they are retired from full-time employment, they brought the first evening’s supper and ideas of “adventures” they’d like to explore during the weekend.  I provided beds, showers, a...

The image you see provides us with a focus for our Lenten journey, here at our Sinsinawa Motherhouse.  It points us to that powerful story in John’s Gospel, where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.  Lazarus had been in the cave for 4 days! “By now there must be a stench” Martha, his sister remarked to Jesus, when He called Lazarus forth and commanded those around to unbind him and set him free. As I juxtapose this image against the changing images of nature I view from my window, I am filled with jubilant hope!  Winter is giving way to Spring.  The sun is rising earlier, the days are getting longer, the snow is melting from the trees and seeping into the earth.  And we have no part in this!  The earth bound up under layers of snow benefits from the snow as it melts.  The very thing that holds earth bound, unbinds, moistening and softening the soil in the process making it ready for the sowing of new seeds.  When Martha doubted, Jesu...