Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

Since the beginning of 2020 and COVID following shortly thereafter, we Dominicans of Sinsinawa have said good-bye to 53 of our Sisters who entered eternal life.     Three of those Sisters left behind a biological sister who is also a member of the congregation.     This becomes an even more significant loss for those Sisters.     We, both as a community and also as individual human beings, are mourning our losses.     Our beautiful wake/remembering services and funeral liturgies do help.     Since COVID restrictions have become less stringent, we have been able to accompany a Sister’s remains to the cemetery.     This also assists us saying our “good-byes.”   Although we are happy for the Sister who has entered eternity, nevertheless, we are grieving.  Today, I gathered the memorial cards for all of these Sisters, held each of them and all of them in prayer, and recalled my connection and encounters with each Sis...

I live in a four unit apartment building own by my congregation.   There are eight Sisters here. When the shut down came last March - we declared we would be together in the building.  We didn't have a name for it but later came the term:  Covid Bubble.  Grace appeared! During this time we have supported those who would need to come and go in ministry, found creative ways to celebrate, and had the great opportunities to practice patience!  Grace appeared! Each of us had to find ways to cope that fit our personalities.  Two of us love doing jigsaw puzzles and have passed along hints with a puzzle the other had not done.  Some play cards - win or lose - it didn't matter. Grace appeared! I continue seeing people for Spiritual Direction, thanks to technology.  And, because of this same technology, have "attended" Mass & panel discussions, taken classes, joined events with people around the globe as well as p...

By now we are used to signs outside of hospitals and skilled care facilities that state “Heroes Work Here” (and they do).  But as these weeks of Advent have gone by and we have experienced losses, deeper worries, greater anxiety about an unknown future, I think we need to put that sign on our own hearts, on our front doors, on our bathroom mirrors.  To me a hero is a person who exhibits courage without first weighing the cost.  A hero takes a leap of faith and turns it into a tumbling routine of courage plus faith plus love.  Isn’t that what we are all trying to do every day so that the Word of God can be born anew into our world?  So that the Word of God can be born within each of us, and so dwell within us, and help our ordinary lives always proclaim the extraordinary mercy of God?  Let us pray for the courage to give life to that Word, to be midwives of hope and deep peace. Priscilla Wood, OP Dubuque, IA