Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

I am standing on the shoulders of the ones who came before me  I am honored by their passion for our liberty  I will stand a little taller, I will work a little longer  And my shoulders will be there to hold the ones who follow me   A few years ago, I would have never have imagined being alive today to see the many challenges of almost these two years.  However, I can still categorically say that I am filled with deep gratitude for the many things in my life, especially for life itself, good health, family, sisters, and friends.  Things and people that I may have previously taken for granted.     The chorus of the above song by  Joyce Johnson Rouse ,  aka “Earth Mama,” beautifully describes the gratitude that I feel for the ones who  have gone before me.  I know that I am alive and well at this challenging time in life for a reason and for a purpose.  I am here to have life and to live it...

“God is the newest thing there is, the youngest thing there is. God is the beginning and if we are united to God we become new again.”     (Meister Eckhart) It has been another tough year!  Disparities in healthcare continue as we struggle still with a worldwide pandemic.  Our political scene shows no sign of rendering collaboration with justice anytime soon.  Voting rights, women’s rights, immigration, the death penalty, services for the homeless and hungry – so much is an uphill battle right now.  How do we not start 2022 exhausted, full of fatigue, and lacking compassion??? I think my answer is God.  The ancient, Dominican mystic, Meister Eckhart, called God the beginning and when we are connected to God, we get to start anew too.  I will sit with God each day.  I will soak in God’s goodness.  I will try to listen to God. I am full of hope and energy for 2022.  I trust in God’s love and jus...

Soon and very soon we will be stepping into the Advent Season. I love this time of year when the whole universe waits in tingling anticipation for the birth of our Savior. Of course, you might say, He was born already a long time ago. He entered into the human race at a specific moment in time and in a specific place – of course! Our time is here and now and our challenge and gift is to trust that He is being born again in us. Our Dominican brother Meister Eckhart says, “What good is it that Christ was born in a stable in Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago if he is not also born in me?”   When Mary was invited to give birth to Jesus her response was, “How can this be?” and we might also respond in kind. Let us remind ourselves that the power is in God and not in us and with God all things are possible. For our part, we are being invited to open our whole being to that power in order to cultivate a spirit of gratitude and a heart filled with compassion. “We are all meant to be mothers o...

Recently I looked at a show called “Tidying Up” with Marie Kondo.  As a person who wanted order in her life I was attracted to this show because Marie took a holistic approach to tidying up the clutter in many of her client’s homes and by extension their lives.  It is amazing how attached we become to things, even a seemingly trivial item as clothing.  One guy in the show while they were sorting out clothing and having to let go of some saying that a particular T-shirt was very comfortable and he wanted to keep it and his wife chimed in asking when was the last time had he worn that T-Shirt. It is very easy to become attached to many things and to people and begin to believe that I cannot live without it or them.  This came home to me when I recently changed ministry (job) and I realised how attached I had become to this particular position of the ministry.  In retrospect I now see that I had found my identity in that position and had be...