mother

Comfort and Joy: Learning to Comfort a Child

Editor’s Note: As part of our “Comfort and Joy” Advent/Christmas blog series, FMS friend and donor Anusia Dickow shares her experiences of babysitting and how they led to a deeper realization. I was babysitting my baby cousin a few weeks ago. She was only six months old, and this was the first time mom and dad were…

Comfort and Joy: Peace on Earth Begins with Birth

Editor’s note: As part of our “Comfort and Joy” Advent/Christmas blog series, current missioner Janice Smullen reflects on the joy that she’s received from her role as a doula, a person who is trained to assist a woman before, during, and after childbirth both physically and emotionally. Although I have never seen a doula depicted as being present…

Mission Monday: Mother and Community Love

For this Mission Monday post, Missioner Annemarie shares a story of the pain of a mother’s love and the healing power of a supportive community. Missioner Annemarie with her mom before she leaves for Bolivia. In the CEB that I have come to know in the northern zone of the city, there is a woman…

Mission Monday: Hospice Residents Celebrate Feast Day

Domestic Volunteers who staff the office at our headquarters are taking Wednesday afternoons to serve at various sites around the D.C. area. Each volunteer is partnered with a non-profit and spending a few hours each week there through their service commitment at Franciscan Mission Service. So far, volunteer Chelsea has had a festive experience at…

Feast Of The Assumption: May We All Be Tabernacles

Photo from flickr user Mr. Ducke On August 15, the Catholic church celebrates the Feast of the Assumption, a day recognizing the Virgin Mary’s completion of her early life and “was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory” (Munificentissimus Deus, Pope Pius XII, 1950). As we reflect on her transition into heaven, we remember that…

Mission and Motherhood: Growing in God

Patty Sollmann, returned missioner and mother of three “I compare my mission experience to motherhood, and the impact that motherhood has on one’s life,” says Patty Sollmann, who served in Guatemala from 1992 to 1994 as part of FMS’ second lay mission class. “Both have stretched me and challenged me to embrace God’s plan of…

Prayers for Christmas: Mothers and Fathers

From flickr user Samuraijohnny “And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.” Luke 1:43-44. The gospel for today features two mothers: Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, and…