Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

This time of year has mixed messages for me. “Hurry up and get ready for Christmas.”  “Slow down and “be” attentive to the season of Advent waiting.” This week the message is “Rejoice!” My heart likes the feel of finding joy. In our Dominican congregation we are in a time of transition. How blessed we are to have assistance in how to “be” in transition in a healthy way. In September we had a virtual assembly, an opportunity to tend to our heart and spirit in our transition. Our facilitators, Dominican Sisters Joye Gros and Teresa Tuite,  inspired us in a process of prayer, reflection, with music and story. At the end they left us with a song: “We Can Be Kind.”  This song is taking root in me. In my pastoral ministry at the Mound and Villa I promote  Mindfulness.  One of the aspects in living in the NOW is to have a daily intention. Since our September assembly I have encouraged the sisters to set an intention to “Be Kind.” Focusing on kindne...

I had just left my spiritual director yesterday and was feeling at one with the universe but when I returned to where I had parked my car I couldn’t believe my eyes. There was a side mirror and smashed glass on the ground, the whole driver side and passenger side door was scrapped and the car itself now at an angle, had one wheel on the sidewalk. Not what I was expecting. I was definitely discombobulated! A man who approached me saying he had witnessed the whole incident from the window of a nearby apartment. A hit and run driver had hit his car, my car and the one just ahead of mine.  He had already called the police but since that was half an hour ago and no one had come, I called them too. Together we waited in the cold for the police to arrive. As we waited we talked. The man told me he was visiting a sick friend when he heard the noise of the crash and came racing out and tried to chase the car which had driven off on only three tires! The fourth was still lyin...

Every Saturday when I arrive at my first communion class, this little girl runs to the car and presents me with a little note.   I smile every time.  More often than not she gives me an idea for a future lesson!  But I am also deeply touched that she takes the time to write the note, decorate it and give it to me.   So, before I begin the lesson, I sit and converse with her and the others about their lives, how their week was for them, their joys and sorrows, in their families and at school.   It is my hope that taking the time to cultivate real relationships with these kids, and to encourage them in their little acts of kindness and love is providing a model for them to value and cultivate other relationships in a world where, as Pope Francis has indicated, people have become so increasingly connected by the media, yet at the same time confess to becoming so increasingly isolated.   What drives you more in ministry, completing the task or cu...

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...

Potting around in the garden could prove risky if one is not properly attired.   Inevitably, I would return from the garden with a thorn in my finger, more that a few injections of formic acid from ants resulting in swollen fingers.  Not to mention numerous scrapes and scratches from thorny branches. These garden creatures resent my intrusion into their space, and so up comes these various defense mechanisms. So I have taken to wearing gloves and long sleeved shirts and I cover myself with a generous amount of insect repellant, organic if you please! So what's the lesson there you must be saying.  I am just guessing (smile) that it is the same with us in our human relationships!   It helps to wear gloves of forgiveness and compassion, long sleeves of loving kindness and to cover ourselves with a generous amount of patience! The season of Lent is a good time to 'shop' for these if we don't have them already. Have a blessed Lent. Gail Jagr...

Reading Roberta’s reflection on Catherine’s Café (December 19) and seeing her reference to the O Antiphons, I began to reflect more deeply upon the O Antiphons of Advent.  The antiphon for today, December 21, couldn’t be more perfect as we begin to see days of lengthening light.  O Radiant Dawn, Splendor of eternal light, sun of justice; Come and shine on those who dwell in darkness And in the shadow of death. Not only are we seeing the physical darkness, we also observe those who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death.   We are experiencing so much suffering on this planet of ours.   On the evening news, we hear so many horrific stories of people’s inhumanity to their brothers and sisters.   We keep asking ourselves, “How can people do that to other people!”   How can someone drive a semi into a group of shoppers in an outdoor Christmas market in Germany?   How can …?   We desperately need some good news. We need the ra...