Catherine's Cafe Vocation Blog

"Our Calling" For some people, the question of their calling is very difficult to decipher; for others, it follows from an early intuition and practically unfolds of its own accord.  For some, it can be the singular and exclusive direction their life takes; for others, it can change and follow new directions.  Again, some people never seem to find what they are called to do; this can burden them with a continual restlessness and dissatisfaction.  When you find what you are called to do, your life takes on a focus and purpose.  You come into rhythm with the deeper longing of your heart. The nature of the calling can change over time, taking a person down pathways never anticipated.  The calling opens new territories within the heart; this in turn deepens the calling itself.  The faces of the calling change; what at the beginning seemed simple and dear can become ambivalent and complex as it unfolds.  To develop a heart that is generous and equa...

I t will all come to us one day even though we have probably experienced it many times in our own lives-receiving. We have learned how to give, how to minister. We’ve learned to “be of help.” It’s appears to be a different set of skills yet they may be strangely connected. To receive. To welcome the other in. It is never to early to learn. To receive and to allow the other to be of service. To welcome the help as a gift and with a smile allows the other to be enhanced. To let go of being and doing and to embrace being and receiving can be a challenge and opens the heart in ways that we could never ask for or imagine. Yes, giving and receiving are strangely connected. Kathy Brady, OP Milwaukee, WI

Easter is such a tender day.  Children remember the eggs and chocolate bunnies, but as we mature we learn that Easter begins with remembering death and suffering before we remember forgiveness, mercy, new life and love. Today I am remembering my Polish Grandma, Magdalene. Who came to the US with adopted parents, her own parents having died in a flu epidemic.   Sometimes I would sit with her for afternoon coffee.   Of course, we always had a cookie or a piece of cake to share as well.   She taught the art of welcoming.   “It doesn’t matter what you have, always treat the visitor with kindness.   If all you have to offer is a piece of bread and a cup of coffee, offer that,” she would say. Our community has been so blessed to welcome to our house, not far from where Grandma and I shared coffee—people from China, Peru, and Colombia, --people of Lakota, Navaho, and Mohican nations, people who are African American, Turkish, and of course people like ours...

As a kid, I loved spring vacation or Easter break as we called it then, but I also remember whining to my wonderful mother that “all we ever do is go to church!”   I didn’t get it then; I hope I get it now.   I hope I get how truly holy this week is – that, as a wise woman said, --   “… is NOT business as usual.”   This week is so special, this week plunges us so deeply into mystery, it can only be called “holy.”   This week has to be experienced, I believe, the way we experience a poem or a painting or dance….it touches us in the deepest parts of soul, of experience, of memory, of emotion –no words, only symbols can speak its truth.   Thursday night’s washing of feet, breaking of bread and drinking the wine, Friday’s cross with blood and water pouring out, Saturday’s new fire and new water all flow seamlessly from one into another until they unite in the image of a rolled stone and an empty tomb.   Just be with these images, sounds, light and darkn...

During this Lenten season this year, I have been focusing on Conversion – turning around, looking at a life situation from a different perspective, moving on.   I’ve seen several different examples, some in surprising circumstances.   For example, I viewed one of my favorite classic movies on TCM network recently – National Velvet .   It is the story of a teenage girl, played by twelve-year-old Elizabeth Taylor, who believed a rogue horse she won in a lottery could win the Grand National.   At the end of the movie, her mother, a very wise woman, told Velvet she was proud of her because she recognized that she had pursued her dream, but now knew it was time to move on.   There is a season.   If you’ve never seen this movie, it’s worth a trip to the local library or Netflix to find the DVD.   There are multiple examples of conversion in the movie. Watching the NCAA tournament this past weekend I realized that 68 teams and coaches began the jou...

Visiting Our Motherhouse Recently With Dominican University Students During this Lenten season, I have spent time in prayer trying to name what makes me privileged.  One huge privilege for me is my ministry.  As a college professor, I hang out all day with young people.  I am so privileged to learn from their ways of looking at life and their openness to our world. Sometimes, my prayer offers me the invitation to get in touch with the privilege that is mine as a white woman.   Whether it is while driving down the suburban streets where I live or trying to buy food at the grocery store or even trying to engage in conversation with someone else in the waiting room, I am so aware that being a white woman offers me privileges.   The students of color with whom I teach and learn from do not experience these opportunities in the same way simply because of the color of their skin. I am praying this Lent to be more aware and to deepen my ...

I get some of my best insights in the shower. Showering is such a mindless task that it allows my unoccupied mind to wander elsewhere. So I was in the shower one morning and out of the corner of my eye I saw the shampoo bottle: Pantene shampoo for normal hair. I’d seen that bottle so many times before, but had never noticed the label…the word “normal.” I pondered, “What’s normal? Who am I to think my hair is normal enough to buy this kind of shampoo? Is it good to have normal hair? Who defines what’s normal?” By this time my mind was wandering way beyond that bottle of shampoo and even beyond the shower: How do we use the concept of normal in life? Are we the norm and anyone not like us is abnormal? Odd? Strange? Other? It’s so easy to fall into that trap. What did “normal” mean for Jesus? He was open to all kinds of people – the poor, the blind, the sick, the outcast, but also the rich and powerful. He made no distinctions among the people of his world. He lived amo...