Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

Saying “yes” has been pretty easy for me, (although the call to religious life later in life mystified and puzzled me. For a while, no response made sense…until ‘making sense’ didn’t matter.) I’ve been reflecting on my ‘yeses’ lately, wondering if some were offered too easily; spoken sincerely but without depth of thought; offered with good intentions but with a failing memory of how the proverbial Road to Hell is paved. There are so many urgent needs in the world today that require a compassionate response – by someone, by anyone, by everyone. Saying ‘no’ seems implausible, cold, unkind, the antithesis of an authentic call to religious life; to any authentic life, really. Yet I am discovering that within every ‘yes’ is often an unspoken ‘no’.  Every ‘yes’ proclaimed contains a benefit, but also a cost; one that can dilute the impact of the ‘yes’.  It might be burnout, frenzied living, a sense of superficiality - of spreading oneself too thin. We simply cannot do ...

Growing up, I remember hearing that how I bring in the New Year sets the tone for the rest of the year. I think of that old saying every New Years’ Eve. However, this is the first time I am intentionally choosing stillness and silence as my New Years’ Eve partners. Like many, my days and weeks are full. Busier than I prefer, at times. The other night, in the midst of band practice, I had an aha moment. It happened while the brass and percussion were working hard and the clarinet section had multiple measures of rest. In that rehearsal, I decided to design my personal 2014 musical score to include more measures of rest. I will begin this New Year fully awake in stillness and silence. In doing so, I hope to ‘set a tone’ for the coming year - paying attention to the instruments of God’s voice while noticing what is going on within me during my measures of rest. My commitment to an active and contemplative life as a sister supports this. Plus, I’ve always learned best when I am ...