Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

It has been such a strange Lent Everything seems turned on its head. I have been home for four weeks  socially distancing. Privileged to have a home in which to stay safe. I have been out for a solitary walk each day noticing as the signs of Spring begin to show themselves. Robins come to my balcony,  still the juncos and chickadees and woodpeckers and purple finches and nuthatches. I’ve seen green creeping into the tops of trees, buds  barely visible, yet all waiting. I have been trying to focus on what is important.  Staying connected through FaceTime.  Praying with our sisters via Zoom.  Trying to connect with and teach my students online. It’s still surreal.  Watching the liturgies streamed from our mother house Praying for their safety and for all who are working so hard to support us during this pandemic. No end in sight. We wait. We all wait as we move through these holiest of days. We wait in expectation...

It is of special interest to me that we connect here by blogging in the name of Catherine.   Recently I joined a group of women in our parish who once a week are in conversation about Catherine of Siena. We are following a study guide, Setting the World Ablaze, St Catherine of Siena.     I am realizing that we bloggers of the 21st century share the charism of Dominic just as Catherine, Dominican woman of the 14th century, shared insights through her numerous letters. A quote in our study guide from Mary O'Driscoll OP mentions that Catherine through becoming at home with God became at home with herself. She found the "living bubbling water of God's being within herself". In our time with God we find the living bubbling water of God within ourselves. We share the bubbling water of God as we connect to one another through this blog. How is God connecting us to the people in our conversation circles? Are we also connected by the God within to people i...