advent
Day 4: Solidarity
Editor’s Note: On the fourth day of our Advent blog series, “Following the Holy Family in Solidarity,” DC Service Corps volunteer Grant Diego describes what solidarity entails in an intentional community. In today’s world, where individualism often takes center stage, the concept of solidarity in community living serves as a powerful reminder of the strength…
Read MoreDay 3: Go Forth
Editor’s Note: On the third day of our Advent blog series, “Following the Holy Family in Solidarity,” lay missioner Julia Pinto reflects on the various ways that God calls us to “go forth,” whether on a physical or spiritual journey. There are many times in the Bible where God asks someone to “go forth,” to…
Read MoreDay 2: Refuge
Editor’s Note: On the second day of our Advent blog series, “Following the Holy Family in Solidarity,” DC Service Corps volunteer Cecilia Gillis reminds us that we are all refugees. You may have a hard time finding a central story in the Bible that does not involve migration or movement of some kind. God’s chosen…
Read MoreDay 1: The Holy Family
Editor’s Note: On the first day of our Advent blog series, “Following the Holy Family in Solidarity,” FMS Communications Coordinator Madeline Turley shares how the Holy Family embodies the spirit of solidarity. When I contemplate the Holy Family, composed of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, I describe it as extraordinary, with emphasis on both “extra” and…
Read MoreWaiting Through the Seasons
Editor’s Note: As Kim Wagner anticipates beginning her time on mission, she relates her waiting to the liturgical seasons of Advent and Christmas. As I have worked to unpack my bags in my new home in Douglas, Arizona, I have begun to reflect on the past month and a half at home and the Advent…
Read MoreDay 16: Humility
Editor’s Note: For day 16 of our Advent series, “The Day of Joy Drew Near,” Amanda MacMillan, a DCSC alumna and former house manager, reflects on the Feast of the Epiphany and contemplates how we can approach our Lord with humility. The Feast of the Epiphany celebrates the first visitors to the Holy Family. The…
Read MoreDay 15: Poverty
Editor’s Note: For day 15 of our Advent series, “The Day of Joy Drew Near,” Ralph Anderson, a newly-commissioned missioner shares his thoughts on poverty and describes how one of his Franciscan brothers embodied this virtue. When the list for the Advent blog series topics came around, I was the last to sign up. The…
Read MoreDay 14: Stood Before the Manger
Editor’s Note: For day 14 of our Advent series, “The Day of Joy Drew Near,” Executive Director Elizabeth Hughes shares farewell with the FMS family after 7 years of service to the organization. It is early Advent, and I join my friend’s 5-year-old in setting up their nativity from Cote d’Ivoire, comprised of the Holy…
Read MoreDay 13: Simplicity
Editor’s Note: For day 13 of our Advent series, “The Day of Joy Drew Near,” missioner Julia Pinto contemplates the simplicity of Jesus’ Nativity and tells the story of a simple yet meaningful encounter. God, I don’t get it.. Why a barn in some far-off village? Why not have the King of the universe born…
Read MoreDay 12: Lights
Editor’s Note: For day 12 of our Advent series, “The Day of Joy Drew Near,” Darleen Pryds discusses how an icon of the Nativity has become more than a simple Advent or Christmas decoration. Years ago, a friend gave me a small icon of the Nativity. I wasn’t sure what to do with it until…
Read MoreDay 11: A New Bethlehem
Editor’s Note: For day 11 of our Advent series “The Day of Joy Drew Near,” DC Service Corps alumnus Sam Hardwick writes a poem that contemplates the Nativity of Jesus and how we participate in this new birth through Baptism and the Eucharist. Birth in a strange land. Joy and amazement from a message. Truth,…
Read MoreDay 10: Joy to Be Found
Editor’s Note: For day 10 of our Advent series, “The Day of Joy Drew Near,” Susan Sarkissian, a newly-commissioned missioner, recounts a season in her life when God helped her experience genuine joy. Today is a celebration of the birth of Jesus. There is great joy to be had in recognizing this incredibly humble and…
Read MoreDay 9: Praise
Editor’s Note: For Day 9 of our Advent series “The Day of Joy Drew Near,” returned missioner Anna Metzger, inspired by the lyrics of a praise and worship song, describes how she continues to praise God through changes and challenges. Before reading the following blog, I encourage you to take a few minutes to listen…
Read MoreDay 8: Solemn: An Advent that Looks Beyond the Blow-Up Santa
Editor’s Note: For day 8 of our Advent series “The Day of Joy Drew Near,” DC Service Corps member Bohdan O’Shaughnessy contemplates the solemn nature of Advent and Christmas. Admittedly, the word “solemn” is not a term I have associated with Advent or Christmas. I typically would assign “joy” or “anticipation” to describe this time…
Read MoreDay 7: Prepared
Editor’s Note: For day 7 of our Advent series “The Day of Joy Drew Near,” Grace Kueber, a DC Service Corps alumna, describes her tendency to over prepare and resolves to trust in God. I always grew up making sure I was prepared. For bad weather – dress warmly, maybe an umbrella, For traffic –…
Read MoreDay 6: Multitude
Editor’s Note: For day 6 of our Advent series “The Day of Joy Drew Near,” lay missioner Mari Snyder uses an acrostic, a poetic device in which the first letter of each line forms a word, to describe the diverse people whom she encounters at her ministry site along the US-Mexico border. On a pilgrimage…
Read MoreDay 5: Tears
Editor’s Note: For day 5 of our Advent series “The Day of Joy Drew Near,” Madeline Turley, a DC Service Corps alumna and current blog manager, shares how a pilgrimage to the Holy Land restored her hope during a season of tears and waiting. “Those who sow in tears will reap with cries of joy.”…
Read MoreDay 4: Brilliant: Why Let There Be Light?
Editor’s Note: For day 4 of our Advent series “The Day of Joy Drew Near,” DC Service Corps member Jennifer Eburuoh compares the image of light disrupting darkness to the Advent season and the mystery of Christ’s Incarnation. Light can be a disturbance–even a nuisance. Many of us have experienced an interruption of sleep due…
Read MoreDay 3: Amplifies
Editor’s Note: For day 3 of our Advent series “The Day of Joy Drew Near,”Stephan Rochefort, the Casa San Salvador house manager, uses the imagery and the composition of The Adoration of the Magi to contemplate Jesus’ Nativity. Housed at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., is my favorite depiction of the Nativity,…
Read MoreDay 2: Arrive
Editor’s Note: For day 2 of our Advent series “The Day of Joy Drew Near,” DC Service Corps member Noah Duclos reflects on waiting for Jesus’ arrival during Advent and notices that God always has been and always will be present in our world. An ongoing debate in the Casa community has been when it…
Read MoreDay 1: Invited
Editor’s Note: To begin our Advent series “The Day of Joy Drew Near,” Associate Director Rose Hardwick shares an experience from her pilgrimage to Assisi and shows how God invited her to go deeper into a beloved Christmas tradition. “How would you like to go on a pilgrimage to Assisi as your professional development for…
Read MoreDay 6: “Carrying that too”
Editor’s Note: Former DCSC volunteer and House Manager, Amanda Saunders, takes part in FMS’ Advent blog series by looking introspectively into the question, “What am I carrying?” and how to bear the weight of those answers. Throughout the Bible, we are given many images of carrying. We see in the Old Testament with the carrying…
Read MoreAdvent Day 1: Enkindled
Editor’s note: Associate Director Meghan Meros opens the 2019 Advent blog series, “Enkindled,” with a story from childhood and a reflection of the value of persisting in our efforts to enkindle goodness and light in the world–even in the midst of a storm. The winter and spring of 1998 was an “El Niño” time in…
Read MoreLove 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 MoreRejoice! 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 MoreLove 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 MoreLove 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 MoreLove 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 MoreLove 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 MoreLove 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 MoreLove 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 MoreLove 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 MoreLove 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 MoreMary’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 MoreLove 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 MoreBeginner 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 MoreLove 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 MoreLove 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 MoreAdvent 2013: The Light of One
Today’s beginning of Advent coincides with World AIDS Day. The 2013 World AIDS Day theme is “Shared Responsibility”. As we learn the facts about HIV and put that knowledge into compassionate action, we also recommit to our shared responsibility this Advent. We return to the very source of our compassion: the Incarnation. “I want to…
Read MoreEncountering God Through Our Lady of Guadalupe
On this Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, new missioner Jeff Sved remembers encountering God during his time in Hispanic ministry with Franciscan Volunteer Ministry last year. The rain was pounding outside as my friend Carlos and I sat in the back of the van listening to Queen. We waited with a mixture of excitement,…
Read MoreEncountering God in Our Hearts
Today, Kitzi Hendricks shares the story of one of the girls she serves in Cochabamba, Bolivia at the Madre de Dios shelter for girls who have been abused or abandonded. Martha is one of the adolescent girls I have been working with at Madre de Dios since she arrived at the shelter in March. When…
Read MoreEncountering God in Heartbreak
This Advent, we reached out to our network and asked, “Where did you encounter God this year?” Today’s response comes from Megeen Testa White, a board member who was one of our very first missioners back in 1991 to 1993 when she served in Zimbabwe. Megeen is now a nurse and lives in Silver Spring,…
Read MoreCome, Journey in Love This Advent
This first Sunday of Advent marks the beginning of a journey. Around the world, Catholics joyfully welcome a new Church year and start to ready ourselves for the coming of Christ’s birth. And here in Washington, D.C., Franciscan Mission Service comissions our new class of lay missioners. We mark the end of Annemarie Barrett and Jeff Sved’s three-month…
Read MoreFranciscan Fridays: God Give Us Courage This Advent
Ring in the new Church year and prepare for Christmas with Fr. Joe Rozansky’s four-part Franciscan Friday series on Advent: Photo by Per Ola Weiberg The Advent readings are beautiful invitations to walk in the ways of the Lord. The reading from Isaiah for the first Monday of Advent speaks about the instruction that the…
Read MoreThe Christmas Challenge: Getting Creative and Simplifying
Our missioner Kitzi Hendricks shares how she challenged herself in her Christmas preparations and hopes you’ll do the same. As the Christmas season approaches, I find myself contemplating the best way to prepare myself for it during my first year on mission. I have found myself turned a little bit upside down without the sounds, the…
Read MoreFranciscan Friday’s on Ramadan: Preparing for the Light
To celebrate interfaith friendship and St. Francis’ history with Islam, Fr. Michael Calabria, OFM is guest blogging about Ramadan every Friday though August 17. A shop in Cairo displaying Ramadan lanterns for sale. Dates – the sugary sweet fruit of the palm tree. They are the first food traditionally eaten after a day of fasting…
Read MorePrayers for Christmas: Joy to the World!
“Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare Him room, And Heaven and nature sing, And Heaven and nature sing, And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.”Share in our joy with our “Prayers for Christmas” video. May you have a happy, healthy, holy day filled with…
Read MorePrayers for Christmas: Why Christmas?
Original photo by Ambuj Saxena “Why Christmas? Our vision, our purpose, our goal: to know, to love, and to serve God. To know God, to know the love between the Trinity, to know the Son, and through Him the Father, and the love that is the Spirit. To know the almighty, the creator, the everlasting,…
Read MorePrayers for Christmas: Witness of Love
“This Christmas I am grateful that the love God showed the world in sending His Incarnate Son has been shown again to me personally in the grace of His sending me to witness to that Love, Jesus Christ, in Africa.” – Sandra Bradford, missioner, Zambia Sandra serves with her husband Bryce through a partnership with the Province…
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