Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

This past week I had a wonderful retreat opportunity.   I was gifted with a week up at Whistler in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.   It is located very near the Pacific coast, north of Vancouver, British Columbia.   Geologically it is an amazing area with gorgeous woods, glens, snow-covered mountains, wild life that all intermingles inside and outside of oneself.   One afternoon, I and a friend went on a guided eco hike through the misty rainforest.   I got to stand and be at one with a very tall, (60 foot) old cedar.   I saw the place where First Nation peoples gently took a small piece of the cedar bark to make their clothing and basketry. They then gave thanks and were careful to not do enduring damage to this regal friend of theirs.   Mostly there was the quiet and the rush of water to invite me to deepen that inner quiet, so I might delight in the outer and inner creative work of the Divine. What invites you to pause?   How do you br...

I get some of my best insights in the shower. Showering is such a mindless task that it allows my unoccupied mind to wander elsewhere. So I was in the shower one morning and out of the corner of my eye I saw the shampoo bottle: Pantene shampoo for normal hair. I’d seen that bottle so many times before, but had never noticed the label…the word “normal.” I pondered, “What’s normal? Who am I to think my hair is normal enough to buy this kind of shampoo? Is it good to have normal hair? Who defines what’s normal?” By this time my mind was wandering way beyond that bottle of shampoo and even beyond the shower: How do we use the concept of normal in life? Are we the norm and anyone not like us is abnormal? Odd? Strange? Other? It’s so easy to fall into that trap. What did “normal” mean for Jesus? He was open to all kinds of people – the poor, the blind, the sick, the outcast, but also the rich and powerful. He made no distinctions among the people of his world. He lived amo...