Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

One would think that this extended time of sheltering in place might teach me more about patience. However, I am finding that once again my garden is teaching me about taking time. One instance of this was planting my cucumber seedlings outside too early. I was so eager to get parts of my garden in that I placed my light-grown cucumbers in the soil before they were strong enough to deal with the outdoors. Hmmm…back to planting more cucumbers beneath my grow light. I have begun to see this grow light to be like grace in my life. Aren’t we all invited to settle in and let the Light of God’s time nurture us and invite us to grow stronger in love, patience, listening? I have also discovered another value of God’s Grow Light. Rather than chide myself about my impatience, I was able to grin and know I can keep on learning and rest assured that God’s Grow Light is ever with me.   What teaches you about gently watching your patience and presence grow? What do you know about God’s Grow Ligh...

  How I love and admire our teacher Nature. She always invites me to insight, change, and integration. I have been preparing my garden for winter’s approach and found myself digging in a much, overgrown area of tangled, immersed Japanese Irises! When was the last time I did this, I asked myself?!     The tangled root system indicated to me that it had been 5, 6, 7? years! Whew! The Iris roots resisted being moved. They were so woven together and tangled they did not take well to my spade and shovel. It was obvious they ‘liked’ being close together and yet I knew that they all did not have the breathing space to bloom. Once broken up I could move some clumps to other spots in my large backyard for future growth. Our Congregation is just beginning preparations for our every 5-year Chapter meeting where we review how God’s Mission has us and how we are responding to this. It is a graced time of paying attention to our growth and opening ourselves up to where the Spirit is le...

There is this cedar tree that overlooks our garden.  Every year it sheds its leaves and produces new ones.  Every year it produces hundreds and hundreds of seeds.  I know.  They fall in our garden and I have to rake them up! When I am out in the garden among the leaves and seeds, this scripture passage about the sower and the seed comes to mind.  I am always struck by the apparent extravagance and wastefulness of God.  Why so many?  Why every year?   But, God's ways are not our ways.  Sometimes we may want to question God's ways.  "Why God?" We may even want to suggest some improvements to God's plan.  "God, surely you could have averted this?"  But God is infinite wisdom!  God works all things for good.  I am slowly tapping into this wisdom.  So whereas in the past I grudgingly raked and bagged the leaves and seeds and put them by the road to be taken away, now I pile them high in a corner of the gard...

  Prayer is one of the four pillars of a Dominican lifestyle.  Along with preaching or ministry, community, and study, prayer is how we devote ourselves to a gospel way of life.   We pray in common, joining with our sisters and with all the faithful, wherever we are missioned.  We also develop a cherished relationship with God.  Our founder, Saint Dominic used to say, “Talk to God and about God.” Prayer is how we relate to God and influences how we relate to the whole universe.  Summer, with all its growth and greenery, has so much to teach us about prayer.   Just this week, I have been passing the zucchini plants from our community garden on my way to the Food Pantry.   Each plant, with its bright yellow flower still bursting forth from the stem, seems to be growing bigger on a daily basis.   By the time this vegetable ends up on the table of one of our neighbors to provide a savory meal and sustenance, the zucchini will have “...