Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

We’ve taken down our Christmas tree, the wreath and all the other decorations and stored them until next year.     My Nativity set has gone back into its box and put away. The angels and shepherds have gone.     The Magi have returned to their homelands.     The Christmas music has disappeared,     and the stores are now filled with Valentine’s Day things.     Christmas vacations are over.     In the liturgy Baby Jesus now appears as a grown man going to see John the Baptist.     What remains of this beautiful season is Emmanuel, God with us.   How do you experience “God with us” throughout the year?   LouAnne Willette, OP Austin, TX

So much nostalgia and warm fuzzy feelings come into play during this season of Christmas. It is all good because they have to do with relationships, with the joy we get from giving, with our gratitude at what God has done for us. One especially unforgettable Christmas for me was my first Christmas in the novitiate. I was dwelling on past Christmases with family and getting not only nostalgic but homesick. We went to chapel a half hour before Midnight Mass began, and the first thing I noticed was the Nativity window that was lit up with a special light. Then the music started. One of our sisters played the harp and another played the violin. Being in the midst of such awe and beauty, I almost felt I was in heaven. I came into contact that night with the true meaning of Christmas and the utter awesomeness of what the birth of Christ means for all of us. A Blessed Christmas to each of you! Do you have a treasured memory of a special Christmas? If so, what made it speci...

This past weekend I was blessed to take part in the annual L’Arche Jacksonville Living Nativity.   This simple yet moving performance helped me to understand and experience the wonder of the nativity in a new way. L’Arche, which has been my place of ministry for the past four months, is a community of adults with and without developmental disabilities who share life together.   Those with developmental disabilities are called core members because they are at the heart of the community.   LArche is a place where people are authentic, where gifts are revealed and affirmed, and where those whom the world places at the margins can find a true home.   This spirit of welcome makes L’Arche a sign of hope to the world. The Living Nativity performance allowed us all to shine.   The narrators proclaimed the story with conviction, Mary was radiant, and the Star of Bethlehem danced his way to the stable with an infectious joy.   And I was reminded that as God...