Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

I learned to value and appreciate the liturgical year when I first entered the convent.     Those early days of training focused a lot on the liturgical seasons. We steeped ourselves in the Scriptural readings of the day   and seasonal music.     It was there I identified the grace of longing.     Ahh, I thought. I am an Advent woman.     Longing and waiting have been a key faith identifier within me to this day. Whatever does that have to do with this Christmastide?  Again, in the Novitiate years, I came across a great spiritual writer:  Rainer Maria Rilke and his ‘Letter to a Young Man.’  I have leaned into this quote of his for decades now.   “. .   celebrate Christmas  in this  devout  feeling, that perhaps God  needs  this very anguish of yours in order to begin, . . .  It has not always been ‘anguish’.  Though this year there has been ple...

Often, a day spent in D.C.—living in a diverse community of 14 and working on Capitol Hill—feels like a multi-chapter chronicle.  Life hasn’t felt this full, ever.   Any given day is rife with interpersonal encounters and dynamics.  I’m almost always engaging with others or navigating relationships and interactions between them.  Multiple encounters with strangers—scheduled and ad hoc—add a delightful element of surprise to a day.  I often show-up at special, powerful events—whether intentionally or by happenstance.  I attend meetings with a variety of people—I may know some of them and I might know the reason we’re meeting (but not always).  Several circles of people welcome me as a member.  I could spend time in multiple locations throughout the District in very different environments in a day.  There’s also a constant buzzing of political intrigue and activity that’s consuming “the background”.  At the end of the day, I’m ...

Henry Ossawa Tanner, The Annunciation Every year, it’s the same: the intensifying liturgical readings, the weekly lighting of another candle, building anticipation. For all its predictability, Advent is my favorite season. It never ceases to awaken something that lies dormant deep within me. But why? After all, I already know what’s waiting at the end, so why go through the annual charade of suspense? For starters, it’s the way that Advent invites me to practice patience and presence before rushing headlong into parties and presents. It’s the balance between darkness and light, and the reminder that the former is every bit as important as the latter. It’s the silence and the longing. It’s because each Advent takes me deeper into the mystery of a God who loves us enough to meet us on our turf, becoming human so that we might come to know God. It’s the already-not-yet paradox of Advent: even as we stand in awe of past and present incarnation, our souls long for a union w...

In this season of slumber… Pregnant pauses… Dormant possibilities… We wait. Grieving leave-takings Celebrating homecomings And Home-goings. In stillness We wait. Longing for His coming And, with His coming, Our awakening. Be still And know He is already here… Peace to you this holy season of Advent. Kathy Flynn, OP Whitefish Bay, WI