Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

During these days of the pandemic I have had a lot of time alone. I live with a younger sister who is currently working on a master's degree in counseling. She has many responsibilities and commitments, so she and I are on two different schedules. We eat and pray together and are grateful for each other's presence in our lives, but other than that we don't connect often during the day. With all this quiet time I was surprised one day when I realized a great desire to get away to a quiet place where I could spend time with God and with nature. Didn't I already have this? Something inside me urged me to think about this seriously and to seek a different environment. I ended up going to a retreat center near me for three days. I brought just one book that would help me to go deeper into my relationship with God. Each day I walked around the grounds, marveled at the various hues of autumn, watched a flock of geese overhead, and thoroughly delighted in God's creation...

This past week I had a wonderful retreat opportunity.   I was gifted with a week up at Whistler in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.   It is located very near the Pacific coast, north of Vancouver, British Columbia.   Geologically it is an amazing area with gorgeous woods, glens, snow-covered mountains, wild life that all intermingles inside and outside of oneself.   One afternoon, I and a friend went on a guided eco hike through the misty rainforest.   I got to stand and be at one with a very tall, (60 foot) old cedar.   I saw the place where First Nation peoples gently took a small piece of the cedar bark to make their clothing and basketry. They then gave thanks and were careful to not do enduring damage to this regal friend of theirs.   Mostly there was the quiet and the rush of water to invite me to deepen that inner quiet, so I might delight in the outer and inner creative work of the Divine. What invites you to pause?   How do you br...

Every year, like most Dominicans, I dedicate some time during the summer months to retreat.  It is usually a week, but sometimes I can only fit in five days.  That was the case this year.  I went to the woods outside LaCrosse, Wisconsin.  These hermitages are about a 20 mile ride from the Mississippi River.  Gorgeous country.  Retreat brings extra time – extra prayer time, extra time for rest, and extra time to spend in silence.   I spent part of each day climbing up and down these bluffs.   It was rigorous and amazing.    I found a spring with the purest water.   A sister friend in the hermitage next door shared meals and prayer.   Rumi says: Come out of the circle of time and into the circle of love. That is what retreat allows for…extra time in the circle of love.   Peggy Ryan, OP River Forest, IL