Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

In the past two weeks, I’ve been to a dentist and was privileged to be with a dying sister. Although certainly not comparable circumstances, one is often (for me) filled with some fear (dentist), the other with sadness.   The dental hygienist was new to me. She spoke softly. Somehow, our limited conversation turned to the existence of spirits, blessings and to a providential God. She shared a beautiful story of her mother’s death and the many ways God spoke to her in the months leading up to it. I was deeply touched and grateful that she felt moved to share her story. From the unlikely place of a dentist’s chair, I was fed by the Spirit through this woman.    Faced unexpectedly with her impending death, a sister wondered how she was to prepare for it. I pondered that for a long time, later sharing that wondering with a sister residing at the facility where I minister. After some thought, she quietly said, “I don’t know…I guess we prepare with our entire life.” How true! W...

In a terrifying way, the twin pandemics of Racism and Covid-19 may bring us to the brink of all that could save us as a people. Jan Richardson’s reflection in  Circle of Grace , invites us to see a blessing in this moment. “This Grace That Scorches Us” Here’s one thing you must understand about this blessing: it is not for you alone. It is stubborn about this. Do not even try to lay hold of it if you are by yourself, thinking you can carry it on your own. To bear this blessing, you must first take yourself to a place where everyone does not look like you or think like you, a place where they do not believe precisely as you believe, where their thoughts and ideas and gestures are not exact echoes of your own. Bring your sorrow. Bring your grief. Bring your fear. Bring your weariness, your pain, your disgust at how broken the world is, how fractured, how fragmented by its fighting, its wars, its hungers, its penchant for power, its ceaseless repetition of the his...

At a celebration of the Eucharist recently I was paying less than strict attention to the words of the first reading until I heard “and women of some influence”… who “threw in their lot” to help Paul and Silas (Acts 17:3-4).  I wondered who these women were and how did they influence? Who did they influence?  And how did they find the courage to use that influence to promote this startling new message?  I think we are all capable of being women of some influence – even when we think we make no difference at all. An act of kindness, paying attention to one who rarely receives any, the risk of speaking truth, the commitment to study, the courage to face fear and self-doubt – those are acts of influence like the tossing of a pebble in a pond.  As national and world news fills us with painful words and images, we are challenged to use our influence for the good.  As Rilke wrote, “I live my life in ever widening circles that reach out across t...

"Whenever the divine favor chooses someone to receive a special grace or to accept a lofty vocation, God adorns the person chosen with all the gifts of the Spirit needed to fulfill the task at hand."  St. Bernardine of Siena I came across this quote recently and I thought it would be a good one for me to keep on hand during this year that has just begun. When I am chosen to lead a group or undertake a project I often have to deal with my fear, especially the fear that I don't have the skills to do what has been asked of me or that I will fail. At times like these I am thinking only of my limited, human abilities.  This quote reminds me that if I am chosen then I don't have to rely only on my own gifts, but that God will give me all the resources that I will need.  But I must be open to God's grace and to trust that I will receive all that I need to accomplish the task I am given. Then I can proceed with great confidence! Fear, begone, and let God's g...