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Month: April 2015

Learning to Volunteer

Editor’s Note: * indicates names changed to ensure privacy.  When I cam to FMS in November, I had very little previous experience in volunteering. It was a requirement in high school, but my football coach usually signed us off for moving tables, and I worked in a soup kitchen and food pantry once or twice,…

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Making do

The second week of April we celebrated two confirmations in my parish. Obviously the ideal misa for confirmations and baptisms is the Easter Vigil, but in my parish we often work with what is less than ideal. My parish community is a group of around 40 men who are currently inmates in El Penal de San…

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A Daunting Task

World Health Day was earlier this month, and this year the World Heath Organization is focused on a subject close to my heart: Food Safety. I feel that food safety is an important issue around the world because its use can prevent serious illness and even death—something that, unfortunately, my fellow missioners have witnessed first…

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My “saint Mark”

Today the Church celebrates the Feast of Saint Mark, evangelist, Gospel writer, and one of the Church’s four living creatures—the lion. Today, as the Church celebrates Saint Mark, I celebrate the life of another “saint Mark.” If we are lucky, we are surrounded by people in our lives who support us tirelessly, who care deeply…

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It is in giving that we receive

Editor’s Note: Current office associate Melissa Montrowl is a veteran volunteer at Lourdes. Her recent blog post on the Feast Day of Our Lady of Lourdes illuminates the impact the pilgrimage site has made.  We all know what it feels like to be in the swirling vortex of chaos and busyness known as life. For…

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Throwback Thursday: “Laity Co-Lead with Clergy” by Anselm Moons, OFM

Editor’s Note: In celebration of our 25th year of preparing and supporting lay missioners, we look back to our archives at a World Care newsletter from 1991 in which our founder, Anselm Moons, OFM, describes the changes that need to be made to the idea of evangelization and the role the laity have to play in…

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Simple Prayers

In honor of our 25th anniversary and our nearing World Care Benefit and Celebration, we share a poem with you from our June 1996 World Care newsletter written by returned missioner Fr. George Corrigan. It serves as a reminder to us that we should never be too busy to say a simple prayer to the Lord, and…

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Lent and Larry

As we are still in the Easter season, we remember the many opportunities to reflect on one’s self and determine how to grow as a person beyond the 40 days of preparation during Lent. The sacrifices Jesus made so many years ago afforded the human race a second chance for redemption and the convenience to…

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Learning to be present

“Just be with some people.” Those were Elaine’s words of wisdom to me last week at Calvary Women’s Services. She oversees my work as part of the LEAP program there, and those five words reminded me of my purpose for that afternoon. Ministry of presence is something I am still trying to grasp—even though I’ve…

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Making an impression

Editor’s Note: The following post was written by Nate Mortenson. Pastoral Universitario This is the group Mary and I have been participating in since we moved to the UAC – Carmen Pampa. It’s a wonderful group—usually about 7 to 15 attend the Tuesday evening gatherings where we sing, pray and read from the bible, and…

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“The Challenge of Lay Missioners” by Fr. Anselm Moons

Editor’s Note: In celebration of our 25th year of preparing and supporting lay missioners, we look back to our archives at a World Care newsletter from 1990 in which our founder, Fr. Anselm Moons, OFM, describes the importance of lay missioners and the challenges they face.  On 22 September 1990, after many months of paperwork…

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Lessons through Lax

I was lucky enough to have a tremendous coach when I began playing lacrosse in 2006 at the age of 14. While I wasn’t the slightest bit athletic, or motivated in any way, he found a way to make me both, as I went on to start all four years on an NCAA team and graduate…

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Looking back

I can’t help but remember what I was doing this time last year.  It’s weird because in some ways things have changed so much and in other ways, they are still the same. For starters, I live alone now.  Last year, at this time, I was living with three other people.  We had just moved…

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Clarity through sleepy eyes

As a new Spanish speaker, I often find myself asking for people to repeat themselves in order to understand them. Needless to say, things get lost in translation. Sometimes I can’t tell if I’ve heard the speaker incorrectly, or if he’s actually saying something strange. Most recently, this happened during the week before Holy Week,…

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“I thirst…”

As Jesus hung on the cross, he proclaimed the words “I thirst.” Jesus called out in need of something to drink, but these two words encompassed more than the desire for a drink of water. Jesus was thirsting for a world filled with peace, joy, hope, and most of all a world filled with love.…

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Millennial Lenten Reflections: Light! Love! Joy!

Editor’s Note: The following is the final installment of our Millennial Lenten Reflections blog series in collaboration with Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good. We thank you for sharing your faith journey this Lent with us and all who contributed. Peace and all Good.  Just as those first rays of sun illuminated the empty tomb…

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Eternal fulfillment

Last week we celebrated a funeral for one of the parishioners here in Jamaica. The woman had been sick for a long time, so she was now free from the pain and in God’s loving embrace. The Jamaicans have interesting traditions for funerals. Since most people in Jamaica are not Catholic, the mass is separate…

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Millennial Lenten Reflections: That We All Might Be One

Editor’s Note: The following is part of Millennial Lenten Reflections, a blog series in collaboration with Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good. Short reflections on the day’s readings, written by young adults from FMS and other organizations, will be posted everyday throughout Lent.  Perhaps the most radical Christian belief is that of the equal dignity and…

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Millennial Lenten Reflections: Why focus on the cross?

Editor’s Note: The following is part of Millennial Lenten Reflections, a blog series in collaboration with Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good. Short reflections on the day’s readings, written by young adults from FMS and other organizations, will be posted everyday throughout Lent. This reflection ​is partially excerpted from an essay the author wrote​ for TIME on April 18, 201​4​.​ Today Christians around…

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Are you hungry?

From time to time, my ministry site CUBE has short term volunteers from the United States. They come to share their time, learn more about Bolivia, and learn more about the fight against sexual violence. Although they bring the best of intentions, at times they struggle to understand the populations with which they are spending time.…

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Millennial Lenten Reflections: The Supper of the Lamb

Editor’s Note: The following is part of Millennial Lenten Reflections, a blog series in collaboration with Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good. Short reflections on the day’s readings, written by young adults from FMS and other organizations, will be posted everyday throughout Lent.  Tonight we begin the Triduum. Tonight we gather to in remembrance of Christ.…

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Millennial Lenten Reflections: Seraphic courage

Editor’s Note: The following is part of Millennial Lenten Reflections, a blog series in collaboration with Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good. Short reflections on the day’s readings, written by young adults from FMS and other organizations, will be posted everyday throughout Lent.  “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to…

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