Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

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...

I was a first year novice in our Collaborative Dominican Noviate in St. Louis when Hurricane Katrina passed through New Orleans and the levees failed. Hundreds of thousands of us will always remember where we were when Katrina hit. We were shocked and devastated. And, it wasn’t just the levee system that failed residents (including my family) in the city I call home. I remember my Noviate community, including the two novice directors, who prayed with me and were sources of comfort for days, weeks and months following. They sat with me through my tears of grief and rage. I remember calling friends, who knew the city I knew, and crying together as we looked at images on tv and news web pages. As New Orleans and our country acknowledge the 10 year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, thousands offer prayers, support and help for all who were directly and indirectly affected by flood waters and system failures. Many continue to show up to help rebuild. Prayers, compassionate presence...