Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

This beautiful tree and friend of mine can be seen from almost every window in the home in which I live.     I have had the great privilege of watching the tree move into spring.     What a gift to see the dormant beauty of winter turn into springtime splendor.     First were the buds, then the flowers came, and now, the green leaves are moving in… I am reminded that each part of our journey holds grace.  Each step we take is crucial and needed.   As  Dominicans, we are called to be open to finding God everywhere.  During springtime, that means being open to finding God in the sunshine and in the rain, in the warm weather and in the colder days…wherever we turn, God is there.   How about you?  Where are you seeing, feeling, hearing, tasting, or touching God these days?     Peggy Ryan, OP Dominican University River Forest , IL 

As I take my daily walk these spring days, I come across lots of wildflowers--Texas blue bonnets, Indian paint brushes, pink primroses, and a host of others that I can’t name and in various colors.     They pop up in unexpected places.     That’s the thing about wildflowers, they pop up wildly.     No one planted them, no one takes care of them, and some of them can actually be found in very unkempt areas and scraggly areas.     Not only are they beautiful, but they are abundant and carefree.     What are they telling me about life?  About the world?  About God’s grace?   LouAnne Willette Austin, TX

So now whether we are celebrating Lent, the time of prayer, fasting and almsgiving or Spring the time of green shoots, pussy willow buds and robins, today is our day with its glorious diversity.  It makes me think of change.  The daily paper wrote, “Turn over a new leaf” What do I want to do differently this year?  How can I be more supportive to the people in my life?  How do I respect earth? How can I be a stronger part of movements that call for making our systems more human? How can I turn a business call into a moment in which I acknowledge another human being? I celebrate that I get to be in a multicultural community. The Sinsinawa Dominicans have roots from African countries, from Trinidad and Tobago, from Spanish-speaking countries in Central and South America, from First Nations from Asian countries, the Pacific Islands, and from many European countries. Diversity is Dominican.  We come from and are sent to the diverse world wit...

I am blessed to live on a beautiful lake in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. These spring days are breathtaking. When I get up in the morning I open my door to a view of the sunrise. The room is flooded with light, a light so bright that it hurts my eyes. I thank God for a new day, a new opportunity to enjoy creation and to share its beauty with the people in my life. If a spring morning on earth is this awesome, what will heaven be like? Our Dominican sister Catherine of Siena tells us that “All the way to heaven is heaven because Christ is the way.” How are you experiencing heaven today? How are you sharing that experience with others?   Mary Ellen Green, OP Woodruff, WI

The seed catalogs have arrived!  This sign of Spring never ceased to thrill me as a kid and continues to be exciting even today!  There is a joy in choosing seeds to plant in the earth, believing that by burying them in the dark loam, life and color and fragrance and even food will be the result. Jesus reminds us of that paradoxical truth in an honest, visceral way.  “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains only a single grain.”  The seed must be planted, must be buried, must face an unknown future to ultimately find the nourishment and energy it needs to break open to the light it seeks.  This metaphor, offered for our reflection on this 5 th Sunday of Lent, never grows stale, never lets us off the hook in our need to reflect on the mystery of dying and rising in our own lives, in our Earth, in our universe.    This past year we have all learned something about dying; now we face new beginnings in a changed landscape.  H...

In the northern hemisphere we're stepping into the new season of spring. It's been a long winter and most of us are ready for a change. Maybe that means stepping with a spring in our bodies as we enjoy the new life around us.  I feel so blessed to live in north central Wisconsin where the earth is still pristine in its beauty and every day offers new wonders. Each day I follow the trail in the woods behind my house and each day I see new plants and birds and even a few little critters that I haven’t seen before.  Each day is a revelation of God’s beauty, goodness, and love. How can I thank God enough for this bounty? What’s in your backyard or in other areas of your life, areas perhaps long-dormant after a harsh winter? Can you name the trees bursting with blossoms? Can you greet the tiny wild flowers smiling up at you as you stroll past them? Can you sing along with the various bird songs that float over the breeze to tickle your ears? Sing with me Psalm 104:...

Didn’t it seem like spring would never arrive this year.  And while we were waiting, COVID-19 came to our world and began to wreak havoc among us.  As we watch news reports, we see so much suffering and devastation, and yet at the same time we witness the best in human beings’ care and compassion for one another.  As we ponder the dark days in our lives and continue to hope for more light at the end of this tunnel, we grasp for hope, faith, and ever more insight.   A breakfast conversation with some of our sisters some time ago (before social distancing) led me to believe that suffering does, in fact, make us stronger, give us wisdom, and in the end, enables us to be the women we are today – powerful, durable, intelligent, prudent, hopeful women of faith able to share the “Good News” that God is indeed with us throughout all we are experiencing. So I’ve continued searching for the signs of spring, and I have begun to see my favorite image...

The image you see provides us with a focus for our Lenten journey, here at our Sinsinawa Motherhouse.  It points us to that powerful story in John’s Gospel, where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.  Lazarus had been in the cave for 4 days! “By now there must be a stench” Martha, his sister remarked to Jesus, when He called Lazarus forth and commanded those around to unbind him and set him free. As I juxtapose this image against the changing images of nature I view from my window, I am filled with jubilant hope!  Winter is giving way to Spring.  The sun is rising earlier, the days are getting longer, the snow is melting from the trees and seeping into the earth.  And we have no part in this!  The earth bound up under layers of snow benefits from the snow as it melts.  The very thing that holds earth bound, unbinds, moistening and softening the soil in the process making it ready for the sowing of new seeds.  When Martha doubted, Jesu...

I checked the calendar and yes, it’s true, Lent is just a couple of days away! How do you prepare for it?   I had a dear friend who always said, “I HATE Lent” and I don’t quite think that is the attitude I want!   But Lent can turn into a negative if we focus only on what we can’t do, or shouldn’t eat, or have to “give up.”   This Lent, the Motherhouse community is focusing on two sides of Lenten discipline – fasting AND feasting.    Some examples on the prayer card we each received:   “Fast from wanting more; Feast on being thankful…Fast from anger; Feast on patience…Fast from gossip; Feast on silence…Fast from discouragement; Feast on hope.”    None of these are any easier than before, but by reminding me, challenging me and all of us, to feast as well as fast, I face Lent with a different perspective.   The origin of the word Lent is connected to the word for spring.   Can you make this holy season a spring time experience for...

Spring is coming very slowly to our Midwest city in Southeast Wisconsin.  Seeing spring takes a huge act of faith right now.  These little buds are a sure sign that hope is all we need.  Hearing spring is easier because the birds obviously know more than we do.  They are making new songs everywhere.    The tomb is open and empty.  Christ is risen!!!  The newness has begun.  All we have to do is open our hearts and eyes and trust in the resurrected presence of our brother and friend, the Christ. Where are you finding Easter?  Is it in a seemingly impossible situation with a family member?  Is it in a person or place that you would have never looked for anything good to happen?  Is it in a broken-down promise?  Is it in an ending that you must face and really do not want to?    Let’s look together this year.  Let’s help each other find Easter everywhere we can.  T...

A long-awaited walk with one of my community members to the Lake this week gave me a glimpse of our slow-to-come season change.  I saw one tiny bush with buds and these tiny, daring crocuses.  Despite the fact that all this was seen wearing a heavy jacket and scarf, I was filled with hope and courage.  Warmth, birds chirping, green and flowers…it is not far off.  Dominicans are called to be hopeful, especially in times of change.  Saint Dominic founded our Order in the midst of what one would call today a HUGE paradigm shift.  Change offers us an opportunity to grow and to widen our understanding of God and God’s mission.  Dominicans are also called to be itinerant companions, which means we spend ourselves in one place always ready and willing to be called somewhere else.  Like these flowers, we bloom where we are planted, trusting that our lives will join with the whole ecosystem to bring God’s love to all.   Ho...