death

Steve: How a Boy Who Couldn’t Speak Spoke to Me

Editor’s Note: Missioner Joleen Johnson serves weekly at Bethlehem Home, a home in Kingston, Jamaica, for children who experience various physical disabilities. Although Steve, one of the boys, cannot speak, Joleen has heard God’s voice in a profound way through relationship with him. My Sunday routines are consistent, even when nothing else on mission in…

And it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life

Editor’s Note: Missioner Joleen Johnson shares a reflection on life and death that she wrote and shared for the Transitus prayer service, which celebrates St. Francis’s passing from life to death, and the deeper meaning she found after her grandfather’s passing a few days later. As a Franciscan Mission Service missioner placed in Kingston, Jamaica,…

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…

Millennial Lenten Reflections: The greatest gift

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. For the past few years, I’ve felt especially lucky to have been born…

The Search for the Heart – Remembering Margaret

It is with great sadness that we share news of the death of Margaret Hughes, a returned missioner and former board member. Margaret passed away at the age 51 on Christmas Day after a long battle with stage IV breast cancer, leaving behind Eddie, her husband of 15 years, and Thomas, her 12-year-old son. Having…

Mission Monday: “Death ends a life, not a relationship”

This week, missioner Nora returns to Casa San Salvador, along with seven other returning missioners, to begin the process of re-entry from her time in Bolivia. As Nora recalls her service abroad, she reflects on the memories that center around life’s biggest transition – death. Memorial in honor of Bolivian Protesters. For me, one of…

“Let Me Sow Love” – Death and Life in Colombia

As we work our through the Franciscan Peace Prayer today’s petition is, “Where is hatred let me sow love.” May the corresponding story remind us to honor the dignity of all people through simple gestures of compassion even in the face of chaos. The author, Tom McGregor (mission class XIV), served in Columbia from 2000 to 2002. Colombia has been…