Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

Perhaps you are familiar with the poet, Mary Oliver. She died a few months ago and it was only then I found out she lived a few miles north of me in South Florida. On Ash Wednesday I gave a day of reflection in which I include her poem:   The Summer Day .  The last line is:  “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” The title for this blog entry is how I adapted her words as those of us gather as Lent began.  This is the only Lent we have in 2019.  How did those present and how are you, using your one wild and precious Lent? I have long ago stopped using Lent to give up chocolate.  Rather, I am pondering how  wild   (God’s gift of free will) and  precious   (this very moment – every moment) is my life and all life including the earth’s.  I am listening to God’s call to the next action I am to take. Recently, that happened when participating in a congregati...

“YOLO” – an acronym for “you only live once” - is a piece of slang my undergraduate students taught me during a class discussion about mainstream cultural values.  “People use it as a hashtag on social media.   It means that you should get out there, take risks, and make the most of life,” one of my students explained. YOLO was popularized by the rap song “The Motto,” but this term is only the most recent expression of the perennial idea that we should seize the day and remember life is short. Poet Mary Oliver closes her poem “The Summer Day” with this challenging question:   “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”   Oliver’s question and the YOLO phenomenon both point to the ongoing work of discernment – seeking to hear God’s call as we say “yes” or “no” to various possibilities and opportunities.    For me, considering the question has led to my “yes” to begin candidacy at Sinsinawa.   Our time ...