Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

What does it really mean to offer your day to God?  When I was a child I learned a prayer called the Morning Offering.  In that prayer I offered my whole day to God, my joys, my sufferings, my prayers and my works, all to the one who gave me the day in the first place.  I'm not sure I fully understood what I was saying but I do believe that praying this prayer day after day instilled in me a desire to do God's will.  So when at the age of 21 I heard the call of God so clearly that I could no longer ignore it, I sent in my application to the Dominican Sisters in Sinsinawa.  Once I made this decision I promised to try to follow God’s will in all that I do. I offer each day to God.  Some days are better than others.  During the days of loneliness, the times of challenges, the feelings of failure, I continue to offer these to God along with the joys, and acts of service and compassion I am called to do.  On some days I feel I have nothing to ...

I’ve been thinking a lot about ministry lately.  I’ve also been drinking a lot of coffee.  There are a lot of independent coffee roasters and retailers in Spokane, where I’m spending my apostolic year.  One is the “Supreme Bean”.  When I saw it, I was reminded of my childhood when I often wondered why people were called “human beans”. Human beans? Coffee? Ministry?   What’s the connection?   Well, I don’t know about you, but I’ve been very guilty of judging myself by how much or how little I “do” and by how well or how poorly I “do” it.   The truth is, we aren’t called ‘human doers’, ‘human dids’, or ‘human will do-s’. We are called ‘human beings ’.   Being is defined as “the state of existing; the most important or basic part of a person's mind or self.”   We can learn from the past, but we can’t ‘be’ there.   We can think of the future, but we can’t ‘be’ there.   We can only ‘be’ in the present. There’s the connection. ...

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...