Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

There she was On the ground Hurt Frightened Vulnerable. I took her in my hands She clung to my finger Breathing, resting. There I was Talking to her Stroking her breast, her back Feeling her wings. Are you hurt? How can I help? Silence Presence Ministering Being ministered to. Connection Compassion Love. A while passed. In humble adoration. Then she turned her head Looked me straight in the eye And flew away. A bird in the hand… A word of God. Broken, Spoken, Received. With Gratitude. “This is  the season for letting our prayer be inspired anew  by closeness to nature, which spontaneously leads us to give thanks to God the Creator. Saint Bonaventure, that eloquent witness to Franciscan wisdom, said that creation is the first “book” that God opens before our eyes, so that, marveling at its order, its variety and its beauty, we can come to love and praise its Creator (cf.  Breviloquium , II, 5, ...

We have an alarm system on our community car. It’s supposed to deter burglars. I wonder about that. Mostly, I think, it embarrasses us by going off by mistake. There’s a little device on the key ring with a button. As we approach the car we’re supposed to push the button. They tell me that “disarms” the car. “Disarm”…what an interesting word! We use it in a lot of different ways.   We talk about nuclear disarmament and such – the effort to rid the world of deadly weapons. But we also talk about people having a disarming manner about them – a smile or look that’s disarming It’s a way, I suppose, of being defenseless, vulnerable, open… a wonderful quality in a human being, to be disarming, to invite others simply by one’s manner into relationship. Would that all of us could be disarming! Would that the world could be disarmed as easily as a car is, simply by pushing a button on a key ring. Jesus gave us that power, actually. It was his final gift to us: “Peace, I give to y...