Year: 2020
Casa Love
Editor’s note: In this blog, new missioner Rhonda Eckerman introduces her experience within Casa San Salvador. Coming into this new space, she reflects on the familiarity of the house as well as the community that’s been deeply ingrained within its foundation. She invites the reader into her home and onto the front porch for a…
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Goretticisms: Joys Learned with a Tiny, Elder Sister
Editor’s note: In this blog, missioner Megan Hamilton welcomes readers into one of her ministries in Kingston, Jamaica, where she lives with the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany in their convent. As Megan reflects on the enduring personalities of the sisters in the infirmary, she invites readers to consider how other important things endure, even when…
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Walking Together as Children of God
The world is filled with countless good, loving, caring, and compassionate people. Yet today, many of these wonderful people face reprehensible and unjust suffering at the hands of their fellow human brothers and sisters. For black lives in America, the suffering has gone on far too long, in countless and immeasurable ways. Ways in…
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Awaken Your Emotions
Upon returning home from Bolivia, I jumped on an opportunity to facilitate a mission trip with another organization. During the last week of July, I was privileged to serve alongside teenagers at some pretty awesome service sites. Not only did we serve in the community, but we also took time to process the trip together. …
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The Patience of the Seasons
Editor’s note: DCSC volunteer, Hannah Puvalowski, uses nature and poetry to reflect on times of transition. A flower cannot bloom without water and sunlight. Baby birds cannot fly without nourishment from their parents. It takes 40 years for a maple tree to be ready to share its sweet syrup. The transition from winter to spring…
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Creature Comforts and Shared Solidarity
Editor’s note: DC Service Corps volunteer, Julia, reflects on her time in DC and the ways it has helped her to appreciate simplicity and the will of God. If I had to choose my least two favorite things, I would have to choose hot weather and bugs. As someone who gets hot very easily and…
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Summum Bonum
Editor’s note: In this excerpt from Sunrise of the Soul, guest writer Gerard Thomas Straub reflects on the intersection of Franciscan spirituality and poverty. St. Francis’s love of not only the poor but of poverty itself led me to explore the worst slums on earth in order to understand the saint’s deeper meaning, his radical…
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An Ode to Audre Lorde
Editor’s note: DC Service Corps volunteer Megan McCarthy reflects on the words of favorite writer and activist, Audre Lorde and encourages us to continue lifting the voices of black authors during these monumental moments in our history. As the Black Lives Matter movement gains more visibility each day, it’s crucial now more than ever to…
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Call To Action
Editor’s Note: Sabrina Portner, serving in Bolivia, shares resources that are helping shape her understanding of power and privilege. She invites readers to join her on the journey by listening to and uplifting the voices of people of color. My voice is not yearning to be heard, nor is it needed. Please listen to our…
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Living Water and Light
Editor’s note: Overseas missioner Anna reflects on the past two months quarantined in Bolivia through the song “Springtime” by Chris Renzema. Like all of you, we have been living in quarantine for the last two months in Bolivia. With that comes a lot of uncertainty and free time. I challenged you in my last blog…
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Lessons From A Mandatory Retreat
Editor’s note: DC Service Corps member, Julia reflects on the changes brought about by this pandemic and the insights she’s found along the way. It has taken me six weeks to adjust to the changes brought on by quarantine living. We shifted to working remotely; our community shrunk from twelve to three as members went…
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Raspy
Editor’s note: FMS missioner Becky Kreidler reflects on the different sides of God she’s encountered through recent trials and tribulations in her life. I’ve been abruptly learning that my soul has some rasp to it. Despite my resistance, it has kept coming up, begging for me to acknowledge its existence, and making it known that…
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Nothing or The Best of Something?
Editor’s note: FMS missioner Anna reflects on these times of quarantine and how she’s spending it in Cochabamba, Bolivia. As the whole world is asked to stop, us missioners in Bolivia also find ourselves cooped up in our apartment in downtown Cochabamba. Now, I have to say, I am extremely grateful for where we live. …
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The Song of the Soul
Editor’s note: DCSC volunteer Hannah reflects on how the birds of Michigan remind her of peace and love in times of unrest in our world. Amidst the stillness of looking out my window, I have observed Robins dancing about and playful Bluebirds. I have heard the sweet hum of a Chickadee and the clanging of…
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The Comfort of Art
Editor’s note: DCSC volunteer Kate Keeley reflects on the ways art has brought her comfort during these hard times and shares a poem by one of her favorite poets. In the midst of the pandemic, I left DC and came home to Salem, VA to be with my family during these hard times. It’s easy…
Read MoreA Gallery of Triduum and Eastertide
From Bolivia to Washington, DC , and from Jamaica to Maryland, FMS missioners, volunteers, and staff found meaningful ways to pray through Holy Week and celebrate Easter. See some of their photos below! [unitegallery dcsceaster] [unitegallery easter2020_2]
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Dark Hours to May Flowers
Editor’s note: DC Service Corps volunteer Megan reflects on these uncertain, vulnerable times through her own experiences quarantined in New York. These past few weeks have not been easy. Lately, the weight of the world feels so heavy that at any moment I feel as though my legs will snap like twigs and I won’t be…
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Ramblings from a Tropical Ramble
Editor’s note: FMS Missioner Megan Hamilton reflects on her new life in Kingston, Jamaica and her decision to stay and serve her new community throughout this pandemic. I look out my balcony at an arching, rustling mass of green: palm and mango trees, a hundred-plus-year-old giant the Jamaicans call a French Peanut tree. The sun…
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God’s Call
Editor’s note: DC Service Corps volunteer Matthew Fichter reflects on what God’s calling might be for him after completing the book “The Secret Lives of Introverts” by Jenn Granneman. In these strange times that persist, perhaps one question that might continue to present itself is “what is God’s calling for me”? In thinking about this…
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Hannah’s Nature Vlog
Editor’s note: FMS missioner Hannah Hagarty has returned home from mission back to Iowa due to the Coronavirus outbreak. In this video, Hannah will take you on a peaceful journey of her childhood home sharing pictures and videos of the beautiful scenery that helps remind her of God’s presence even amidst all this chaos. We…
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You’re Not So Tough
Editor’s note: FMS missioner Sabrina reflects on vulnerability, friendship, and accompaniment. I have always struggled with holding in and suppressing my emotions. I tell myself that I am just a very logical, level-headed person–one that doesn’t have emotions. It’s hard for me to express myself or admit what’s going on inside me. Most of the…
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The Ways Between Bethlehems
Editor’s note: Megan Hamilton, an FMS missioner serving in Kingston, Jamaica reflects on two Bethlehem’s: the first being the one that blossomed her love for catholic servant leadership, and the other being her new ministry site in country with FMS. My second day in Kingston Jamaica I am at Bethlehem Home, an orphanage for kids…
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Rest In Our Past
Editor’s note: Becky, a current missioner in Cochabamba, Bolivia, reflects upon how her entire mission journey with FMS illuminates her present moment. She became a FMS missioner in 2018, and attended formation with class 34 in the fall of 2018. Upon discerning to be present to those in Guatemala, she left in January of 2019…
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Trusting In God’s Tomorrow
Editor’s note: DCSC volunteer Michael Broughton reflects on the ways trusting in God’s plan has brought him to FMS, along with new experiences, friends and passions for helping those in need. Hello! Since the last time I published a blog post, my life here in D.C. has transformed quite a bit. I have grown to…
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Old Habits Die Hard in Community
Editor’s note: DCSC volunteer Kate Keeley reflects on a recent retreat with her fellow year-long volunteers and the ways this experience has opened her heart to a new way of understanding community life. For a long time, I thought I understood what it meant to be in community. I come from multiple tight-knit communities: a…
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Peter
Editor’s note: Missioner Hannah Hagarty currently serving in Kingston, Jamaica reflects on 5 words that have become the foundation for her time on mission so far and the ways these words are exemplified in her friend Peter, a 15 year old boy from Jamaica living in a home for boys born HIV positive. Presence. Love.…
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Understanding Servant Leadership
Editor’s note: DC Service Corps volunteer Matthew Fichter reflects on what it means to integrate leading and serving through his experiences at the Fr. Mckenna Center as well as lessons discussed in the book “Toxic Charity” by Robert Lupton. Prior to our February retreat at Harpers Ferry, the DC Service Corps team was asked to…
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Journey To Self
Editor’s note: Missioner Sabrina invites us in to her inner world by reflecting on her relationship with God, her journey on mission, and a poem by Kahlil Gibran that illustrates her emotions during this turbulent time in her life right now. Today I want to speak to you, God, to she, to the feminine, to…
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His Simple, Divine Provision
Editor’s note: Missioner Becky Kriedler adjusts to her new life in Bolivia where she will be serving for the next two years. In this piece, Becky reflects on the ways God continues to show her light, love and support amidst such a new and unpredictable journey. One of the things that made me so excited…
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God Leads the Blind
Editor’s note: Missioner Anna has just begun her journey in Bolivia and reflects on the ways her experiences on mission so far are teaching her how to really listen. In my last blog post, I spoke of the true Spirit of Christmas, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit prompts us to speak to others. While…
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Trusting God is Like Getting a Haircut
Editor’s note: DC Service Corps volunteer Julia reflects on the annual FMS Re-Entry Retreat, a time of welcoming reflection for our returned overseas missioners, and how this experience has led to new friendships and transformative haircuts. With January comes a new year and the annual FMS Re-Entry Retreat, when missioners return from overseas and the…
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