Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

I was away over the Christmas and just came back late on Sunday. One of the first things I did was to turn the page of my calendar from December to January. My calendar is an old one, I bought it in 2003 at the Monastery in Prouille when I made the Lands of Dominic trip. I keep it because it has large beautiful Fra Angelico images for each month. January is an image of the Annunciation. It is a detail of the original fresco. It does not show the Angel, just Mary seated with her posture open, face and hands upturned. Waiting. We have crossed the threshold into this new year, this new decade. I look at the image and wonder. Do I sit poised with anticipation, with openness to receive whatever this new year brings? Time is a precious gift and such a mystery. At the threshold of each new day...

Here we are again at the beginning of another new year.  This year I decided to upgrade how I make and most importantly keep my resolutions/goals and so far except for one it seems to be working. I started off as usual by making my list of resolutions and then thinking to myself what do I need to do differently this year to make sure that all my resolutions or goals are achieved, hopefully, before the end of 2017.   This time I have decided it is about the journey and not so much the destination.   Meaning that I am not so much looking at the end results, but concentrating on how I am doing each day on every resolution/goal that I have made. I am being more mindful of the people and things that I experience in my daily life.   I am enjoying the everyday seemingly simple things in life that I so often take for granted.   Usually when the year comes to an end, most times it is very difficult to know what I have done or achieved. This year already ho...

As this new year begins I ponder the possibilities around me. The good news is that I have options and for this I am so grateful. My life is a series of blessings from God; living as a Dominican Sister I have options regarding my ministry, where I go and what I do. I have options on how I choose to live in community, hopefully participating and enjoying life with my sisters and accepting care for them as needed. My life in Waukegan has enriched my awareness of the needs in our immigrant community and the option I take here is to assist them in their journey to become citizens and not reject them. “I was a stranger and you welcomed me…” Mt. 25 Jesus in his wisdom speaks so clearly of or societal needs and the option for a person of faith. What are your options as you begin this new year? Kathleen Long OP Most Blessed Trinity Parish, Waukegan, IL

Selfies have become a popular way of taking photos.  Even Pope Francis poses for selfies!  Last Sunday into Monday the four of us Trini Sinsinawa sisters met as usual for our monthly meeting and, voilá, we too posed for a selfie!   But really, we met to 'take' a more important kind of selfie.  Being the start of a new year, we met to self reflect on the past year on a personal and communal level.  We let the four pillars of Dominican life guide our musings.  Our meeting was very revealing and like selfies some things we saw about ourselves, as individuals and as a community we were happy about, and some things we wished were different.   Photos don't lie.  They reflect back to us who we are, what we look like on the outside.     I was grateful that this time of self reflection, also honestly reflected back to us how we were doing on the 'inside' in the areas of prayer, study, community and ministry.  Having seen where we we...

Happy New Year!   As I was praying this morning I kept wondering, “What happened to 2013?”  It must be a sign of getting old!  However, I suspect that all of us experience a too-fast pace of life and wonder where our time has gone.  I relate to Tanya’s blog from this week where she has promised herself more stillness, more silence in her life. Yesterday’s gospel was the prologue of the Gospel of John…”In the beginning…the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”   In one of the books I use for daily prayer Sr. Pat Kozak, CSJ, offered a reflection on the “unfinishedness” of our life.   Is there anything about 2013 that felt unfinished in your life?   Perhaps a relationship that cooled?   Some project you were working on that you just couldn’t seem to put together?   Things you hoped to do to help others that you just didn’t get to?   Well, the good news is that the Word, Jesus Christ, dwells among us.   And the unfinishedne...

At New Year I am asking, "When have I heard God calling in 2012?  Where am I being called today?" As I looked at my journal for 2012 I found entries about wanting to be part of the dance of the universe.  So here I am on this 9th day of Christmas, and I am thinking of the 9 ladies dancing of the old carol, "The Twelve Days of Christmas".. Who are the dancing women of 2013?  How are they called? 1 women of learning 2 women of music and dance 3 women of art and drama 4 women of foreign policy 5 women of peace 6 women for justice 7 women for women 8 women against racism 9 women for . . . (you name it) I realize that God is calling women of every talent to be women of the Gospel in 2013. I want to support other gospel women.  I am grateful that I am called to be a Sinsinawa Dominican. In community we support one another to go where ever the work is great and difficult and where each is sent by Jesus, the Lord of the Dance. ...