Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

Last week at meeting at Sinsinawa, our sister artist, Joeann Daley brought a kaleidoscope. Besides the fun we had passing the kaleidoscope around the circle, that kaleidoscope became a symbol of the group working together. As children most of us have played with a kaleidoscope that encloses colorful pieces which get reflected by three mirrors to give astonishing patterns.   This particular kaleidoscope, however, used only the colors it captured in the room. .   So as we looked through the kaleidoscope we were seeing beautiful patterned reflections of the people in the circle. How many times have I sat in a community circle?   Do I come there just to speak what I know or do I also try to listen deeply to each one?   In community we make new patterns as we reflect each others' thoughts back and forth and around the circle.   Thus our spirituality grows through community. Dominicans are called to practice community.   Community is much more than shari...

These past weeks prior to Holy Week, like many others, I’ve been watching the NCAA basketball tournament games leading up to the “Final Four.”   After each game, there is the celebration of the winning team and also the experience of loss for the team that did not “make the Final Four.” It occurred to me as I observed the loss and devastation of the team that did not move on to the next game, Holy Week is a week during which we recognize our losses.   And our losses, as humans, are many:   a game, financial security, health, a job, reputation, dignity, relationships, a child, a parent, life as we once knew it …     The litany is endless.   We remember that Jesus experienced the depth of human loss.   He endured the most excruciating loss of all – the sense of being totally deserted, forsaken.   “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me,” he cried.   But Jesus remembered, and we also remember Abba’s promise to us in the words from Je...

I am in the last four months of a year of full-time study.   I have been writing a thesis relating to the unaccompanied minors who have been crossing our southern borders.   As a Dominican, I have not and cannot just sit behind a desk to study.   Twice during this past year, I have traveled to the borderlands to understand in a deeper way what these young people experience.   During these trips, I have sat in court rooms, hiked into the desert to migrant trails, and spent days welcoming these newcomers at a social service center.   My study has also sent me to a nearby parish where these unaccompanied minors now live with family members.   I have interviewed service providers and organized focus groups with the minors themselves. For the Dominican women of Sinsinawa, study is a way of life.   It happens everywhere we are and everywhere we go.   What we learn is that the mystery of God is unfolding. Study is actually not meant to make us smart...

It’s the middle of Lent, Easter is not here yet and I am praying a Pentecost prayer:   Come, Holy Spirit, Come!   Actually, this is among my favorite prayers.   Others are:   Here we go, God!   ~~   Help!   ~~   Thank YOU! What comes next is even better.   These prayers cause me to pause and to do something I often suggest to people:   Pause and take three slow deep breaths. Did you find yourself pausing right now?   Did you take a deep breath? This is my shortest blog offering yet because I want to encourage you to consider what are your prayers – in your own words.   Then take those three slow deep breaths. Roberta A. Popara, O.P. North Palm Beach FL

Last year’s midwest Winter was long and cold, but this year we’ve begun to experience Spring already.   And with the early daylight savings time upon us it seems even more so.   We’ve already passed the “ides of March” and I find myself asking, “How did THIS happen?” I’m one of those lucky people whose schedule is different everyday, and has been for much of my adulthood.   After teaching in a high school (where every day was nearly the same) I set off on a different path.   Now I have to look at my calendar every day just to see where I’m supposed to be! Needless to say, my calendar is very important – and if I fail to mark something down (as I too often do), well, you can imagine what happens… Our lives are busy!   And the older I get it doesn’t seem to slow down.   How about yours?   Have you fallen into the trap of being “too” busy?   Do you take time for just being ? Ruth Poochigian, O.P. ...