Home / 2018 / December

Month: December 2018

Love Blooms through the Incarnation

Editor’s Note: FMS Executive Director, Liz Hughes, reflects on the joy and love that can be found in the presence of God’s unfathomable love. Upon entering my brother’s home, it’s common for my 16-month old nephew, Benjamin, to squeal with delight and then hide behind the couch, eager to engage in our favorite game of…

Read More

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall Come to Thee!

Editor’s Note: FMS Programs Manager, Emily Norton reflects on the unexpected love that has bloomed from a friendship that emerged from an emergency response training. **Names have been changed to respect privacy** “See you Sunday! Safe travels. I love you!” I hung up the phone and reflected on how natural the words “I love you”…

Read More

Love Blooms During Advent

Editor’s Note: DC Service Corps member, Nadia Barnett, reflects on the joy and love that stirs up in preparation for Christmas. Tis’ the season of love. Forget Valentine’s Day. Love blooms at Christmas time. Every year, I am always so excitable, filled with a simple, childlike joy that makes the countdown to Christmas one of…

Read More

Love Blooms Through an Internship

Editor’s Note: FMS intern, and Don Bosco Cristo Rey student, Cayla Dolet reflects on her time here at FMS and the growth she has experienced. Just like a blossom in a field, love can bloom. Although, it might take some work, it isn’t impossible. And just like that blossom, love can’t just bloom on its…

Read More

From a Mustard Seed to a Garden

Editor’s Note: Former DC Service Corps volunteer, Sam Hardwick, shares how God spoke to his heart and inspired growth through the invitation to live a life of faith. This is the irrational season When I was going into my senior year at Providence College, God planted a seed in my heart. This seed came in…

Read More

Love Blooms In Vulnerability

Editor’s Note: Return Missioner, Amanda Ceraldi, shares how love has bloomed in vulnerable conversations with students at Catholic University of America. The box of tissues on my desk is almost empty.  My office couch has been occupied by countless students.  If the walls of my office could talk, they would tell you stories of heartbreak,…

Read More

Love Blooms in a Morning Reflection

Editor’s note: Former DC Service Corps volunteer, Kathleen Strycula, shares a poem inspired by the gift of a new day. It is a slow awakening with the dawn. I think of Mary on her bed, Fabric gathered around her in folds and wrinkles, Face gently turned towards her golden visitor. I wonder. Was he unexpected,…

Read More

Love Blooms… Out in the Woods

Editor’s Note: Friend of FMS, and Assistant Campus Minister for Immersion Programs and Community Service at CUA, Harrison Hanvey reflects on how God’s love radiates beyond institutional establishments, and is present and alive in the beauty of creation. A little over a month ago, a couple friends and I decided to take a bike trip.…

Read More

Love Around A Table

Editor’s Note: DC Service Corps member, Nayeli Garcia reflects on how the simple act of sitting down at the dinner table has shaped her family’s relationships. This Advent season is a time for us to celebrate the coming of Jesus, but it is also a time to celebrate, with family, all of the good we’ve…

Read More

Love Blooms Through Patience

Editor’s Note: Current Missioner in Bolivia, Maggie Van Roekel recalls a moment where beauty shone through the side of relationship that requires patience. The three of us walked back to the house in silence. There had been an argument on the soccer field. Unkind words and raised voices had been thrown. Heads down, we quietly…

Read More

Love Blooms in Times of Transition

Editor’s Note: Hannah Hagarty, Missioner who recently finished Formation and will soon be going to Jamaica to serve for two years, reflects on her identity as she faces transition. Advent is a time of waiting. Not too long ago, I packed up my things, gave long hugs with tearful goodbyes to my housemates, and left the…

Read More

Love Blooms in Traffic

Editor’s Note: Current Missioner in Bolivia, SarahJane Cauzillo recalls a moment when she allowed herself to be present to the workings of God, instead of sitting in frustration. I was late. Like, really late. I was over an hour outside of the city and yet here I was, slammed into a crowded trufi (taxi bus),…

Read More

Love Blooms in the Mystery of Life

Editor’s Note: Sabrina Portner, Missioner who recently finished Formation and will soon be going to Bolivia to serve for two years, reflects on the love that has bloomed from her Grandmother’s life and death. I have been greatly blessed by my time of Formation with FMS. I say this even though during the three short…

Read More

Love Blooms: Growing in Love

Editor’s Note: Current Missioner, Erin McHugh shares a beautiful encounter in which God allowed her to grow in love with the kids at Valley of the Angels in Guatemala. When I first arrived at Valley almost 2 years ago, I was so overwhelmed by the 215 kids. I didn’t know how I could give the…

Read More

Love Blooms… At the Casa

Editor’s Note: Former FMS Associate and Current House Manager, Amanda Saunders reflects on the lessons that have come from living in intentional community at Casa San Salvador. I have been a member of the FMS family for three years. First, as a DC Service Corps volunteer, and then as the Casa San Salvador House Manager.…

Read More

Love Blooms… In the Words of a Familiar Tune

Editor’s Note: DC Service Corps member, Amy Brandt reflects on how love has bloomed for her through an Elton John song. Love blooms… In the words of a familiar tune: It’s a little bit funny, this feeling inside. It is physically impossible for me to keep from singing the next line of “Your Song”: I’m…

Read More

Mary’s Choice

Editor’s Note: DC Service Corps member, Kevin Ruano, reflects on Mary’s ability to abandon reason and trust in the love of the Creator. This is the irrational season when love blooms bright and wild. Had Mary been filled with reason there’d have been no room for the child. —Madeleine L’Engle, “After the Annunciation” Contemplating L’Engle’s…

Read More

Commissioning 2018: Grounded in a Call, Grounded in Community

After an intensive three-month period of formation with Franciscan Mission Service (FMS), Becky Kreidler, Hannah Hagarty, and Sabrina Portner were commissioned as lay missioners who will accompany members of economically poor communities abroad. The November day of the ceremony included a Mass, presided over by Br. Ignatius (Iggy) Harding, OFM, at the Franciscan Monastery of…

Read More

Lifelong Missioner Highlight: Nora Pfeiffer

One of the beautiful aspects of the Overseas Lay Mission Program is that when our lay missioners are commissioned each November they are committing to lifelong mission. Our missioners serve for 2-6 years with FMS, but their commitment to live out their call to mission goes well beyond their time with FMS, and how each…

Read More

Love Blooms- Persevering Through Personal Growth

Editor’s Note: Missioner, Misty Menis-Kyler, who has served in Guatemala and will be returning home in January, reflects on the importance of self-compassion and persistent personal growth. Love doesn’t have to come from a significant other, a mother, a father, a sister, or brother Love comes from all around and it comes from within. Once…

Read More

Beginner Level Transformation… In the Soup Kitchen

Editor’s Note: Current Missioner, Tim Shelgren describes the transformation and change of perspective he experienced through serving at a soup kitchen in Kingston, Jamaica. Every week, I spend a few hours serving at the Missionaries of the Poor (MOP) soup kitchen in downtown Kingston called Jesus the Redeemer. Recently, a group of volunteers from the…

Read More

Love Blooms Through a Stranger

Editor’s Note: In preparation for her mission in Guatemala, Missioner Becky Kreidler reflects on the generosity of a stranger she encountered while serving at the Father McKenna Center. Each week during Formation, I served at the Father McKenna Center, a social service agency supporting men struggling with homelessness and families dealing with food insecurity. One…

Read More

Love Blooms after Death

Editor’s Note: Secular Franciscan, Denise Clare, participated in a short-term mission awareness trip to Cochabamba, Bolivia with FMS. Denise reflects on how love has bloomed through the passing of Mother. There were no flowers in bloom on that bitterly cold gray morning, the last day of November and the First Sunday of Advent. I did…

Read More

Love Blooms in Unexpected Places

Editor’s Note: Associate Director, Meghan Meros reflects on how love bloomed in an a very unexpected situation through the kindness of a stranger. Search my phone contacts and you will find an eclectic group of people. Occasionally, I tell myself that it’s time to purge my contacts (why do I still need the number of…

Read More