the light of one
The Light of One: How It Starts
Continuing our reflection series “The Light of One”, Community of Sant’Egidio member Charlie Gardner writes about a graced insight toward gratitude. On one morning commute, I detoured to a grocery store to pick up a few items, but somehow ending up grabbed a blueberry muffin from the bakery. Then I spotted a chocolate pastry. In…
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The Light of One: Preparing to be Overwhelmed
Continuing our reflection series, “The Light of One”, Communications Associate Michael Carlson writes about the spiritual strength of facing the reality of our own limitations. As a former high school teacher, the students I remember most clearly are the ones I still worry about. I’ll refer to this former student as “Hannah”, after the mother…
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The Light of One: A Father’s Love
Continuing our daily Advent reflection series, returned Missioner Catherine Giller writes about a man whose service for his family exemplified the commitment of selfless love. During my first mission experience for FMS in Sacaba, Bolivia, I met Eulalio. Fortunately for their family, Eulalio’s wife had steady work selling food staples. In their relationship, the care…
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The Light of One: In Gratitude
Continuing our daily Christmas reflection series, Valerie Ellis writes about how her faith has been shaped through the caring presence of her pastor, Fr. Len Plazewski. As my family and friends will tell you, I have never been much for seeking advice. In fact, I have prided myself for many years on self-sufficiency. Even more…
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The Light of One: From Tourist to Traveler
On the Feast of St. Stephen, Fr. Jason Welle, OFM, continues our reflection series today writing about how his faith grew stronger after a gentle challenge. As we continue to celebrate the birth of Jesus, let us be open to the gentle challenge of Christ who constantly makes Himself present to us. I traveled to…
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The Light of One: The Gift of a Mentor
Merry Christmas! Continuing our daily reflection series “The Light of One”, Casa San Salvador community member and NETWORK Lobby Associate James Luisi writes about the impact a mentor’s faith had on him. As I ponder the blessings of Advent, I want to reflect on how grateful I am for the guidance of one mentor in…
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The Light of One: God’s Presence
Continuing our daily Advent reflection series, returned missioner and former board member, Doug Garofalo, writes about a woman named Sonia who led him to a deeper faith by example. Upon my return to Uberlandia from Brasilia after completing a language and culture course for foreign missionaries, I still felt inept speaking Brazilian-Portuguese. Fortunately for me,…
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The Light of One: Diary of a Young Southern Catholic
Continuing our daily Advent reflection series, Secular Franciscan and Franciscan Mission Service Board Member Patrick Martin writes about the impact meeting Franciscans had on his faith as an impressionable Catholic college student in the South. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, southern Catholics were not part of the national Catholic culture. We didn’t talk like the…
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The Light of One: An Angel’s Message
Continuing our daily Advent reflection series, Communications Coordinator Bridget Higginbotham shares how her life has been shaped through the message of her grandmother’s life. This time of year brings about a host of angel decorations, and each time I see one I am reminded of my grandmother who loved angels. The word “angel” is derived…
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The Light of One: The Common Denominator is Hope
Continuing our daily Advent reflection series, former Domestic Volunteer Susan Zagar highlights the foundation of relationships in faith: hope. A person who touched my life in a positive way was Thelma, a woman who traveled the halls of the Baltimore City Adult Learning Center in a magenta electric wheel chair. I had just begun tutoring…
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The Light of One: What Our Friends Teach Us
Continuing our daily Advent reflection series, current missioner Nate Mortenson reflects on the simple gifts of friendship. A few years back, I was looking for a roommate so I could afford rent. Several of my friends kept telling me I should ask Colin, the guy who runs the tea shop in Eau Claire, because he…
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The Light of One: The Mother Teresa of El Salvador
Continuing our daily Advent reflection series, returned missioner Beth Riehle writes about a woman whose tireless service brings love and comfort to El Salvador. SOWING LOVE I had always wanted to go to India to work with Mother Teresa, but God had something else in mind. I was called to El Salvador where I met…
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The Light of One: “My Abuelito”
Continuing our daily Advent reflection series, current missioner Kitzi Hendricks writes about the nourishing kindness of a man she calls “abuelito”. “A smile is the shortest distance between two people” –Victor Borge Abuelito is the type-writer mechanic I used to pass by every day on my way to work at my old service site, Madre…
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The Light of One: Overflowing Joy
Continuing our daily Advent reflection series, returned missioner Nora Pfeiffer writes about the simple gift of a child’s love. While in mission with FMS in Cochabamba, Bolivia, the place I lived was not exactly a private place. People always knew when I went from one room to the next, when I washed my clothes, and…
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The Light of One: The Wire Man
Continuing our daily Advent reflection series, Katherine Menezes writes about a humbling encounter with a man and how whose memory continues to inspire her. I was blessed to take part in an FMS trip to South Africa this past summer where I met someone known as “The Wire Man” in a craftsmen complex, a lure…
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The Light of One: A True Missionary
Continuing our daily Advent reflection series, Fr. John Ullrich, OFM, writes about a woman whose generosity showed him the spirit of a true missionary. I met Lee D’Amico about ten years ago. She was about 75 years old then. The first thing that struck me about her was that she was happy – and shared…
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The Light of One: Bridge to Forgiveness
Continuing our daily Advent reflection series on the Feast of St. John of the Cross, Bree Haler writes about man named John Sage whose radical forgiveness inspired her toward greater appreciation of God’s grace. When I was living in Houston, Texas I volunteered for a restorative justice program called Bridges to Life. The mission of…
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The Light of One: Witness to Friendship
Continuing our daily Advent reflection series on the Feast of St. Lucy, Fr. Joe Nangle, OFM, writes about his relationship with a woman named Olga whose accepting friendship challenged him toward greater understanding of Christ in poverty. My relationship with Olga was improbable. She was a desperately poor Peruvian indigenous woman while I was a…
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The Light of One: Choosing to See the Gift
On the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Kate Ackert continues our daily Advent reflection series by writing about the power of a simple encounter with optimism. This past summer, I had the privilege of embarking on a two-week journey to South Africa with the Franciscan Mission Service and the Franciscan Center for Service and…
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The Light of One: Both/And Is Possible
Continuing our daily Advent reflection series, Franciscan Missioner Jeff Sved reflects on how a relationship demonstrated an alternate approach to rehabilitative prison systems. From the time I spent working in the US prison system, I learned that a choice is necessary. If I want to continue working in rehabilitative justice, I can help in one…
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The Light of One: To Be and Not To Do
Continuing our daily Advent reflection series, Associate Director Mariam Kaldas writes about discipleship as presence, not accomplishments. I hadn’t heard the phrase “ministry of presence” before I came to Franciscan Mission Service. It seemed like a revolutionary concept, until I realized that it had already been modeled for me during my own mission in Zambia.…
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The Light of One: Confessions of a Bad Listener
Continuing our daily Advent reflection series, Nonprofit Servant Leadership Associate Sarah Hoffeditz writes about how an individual encounter challenged her to listen to others more deeply. I’m a bad listener. Anyone who knows me knows how much I like to talk. I often spend most of my non-talking time in a conversation thinking about what I’m…
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The Light of One: The Gift of Levity
Continuing our daily Advent reflection series on the Feast of St. Ambrose, Br. Tony LoGalbo, OFM, writes about a formative experience of a lesson learned through humor. It was the beginning of July, 1983. I had completed the Portuguese language program for new missionaries in Brasilia, and I had arrived at my new assignment in…
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The Light of One: Welcomed Through Music
Continuing our daily Advent reflection series on the Feast of St. Nicholas, Audrey Sabatini, current undergraduate at Siena College, writes about a woman who positively influenced her life through the gift of welcoming. As a freshman commuting student at Siena College in Loudonville, New York, I preferred to be off-campus rather than having to figure…
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The Light of One: Mother. Administrator. Agronomist. Jefa. Friend.
Continuing our daily Advent reflection series, Missioner Annemarie Barrett writes about a woman who continues to greatly influence her life in more ways than one. Mother. Administrator. Agronomist. Jefa. Friend. Working with Casta, our parish administrator and jefa in the parish garden, has been one of the many transformative relationships that I have encountered in…
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The Light of One: Proof of Edified Youth
Continuing our daily Advent reflection series on the Feast of St. John Damascene, Domestic Volunteer Chanda Ikachana writes about an experience at her volunteer site, Mary House. I love working with kids! Their innocence is refreshing, their joy infectious, and their potential for growth astounding. I was most recently reminded of this at my weekly…
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The Light of One: Have a Blessed Day!
Continuing our daily Advent reflection series on the Feast of St. Francis Xavier, Patron of Missionaries. Natalie reminds us that we are all called to witness our faith through mission. Her reflection today focuses on one person’s mission of consecrating simplicity. “Have a blessed day, Ma’am!” It’s a sentence I look forward to hearing every…
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The Light of One: The Gift of Your Self
Continuing our Advent reflection series today on International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, we keep in mind that all relationships must be founded in dignity. Current Missioner Hady Mendez reflects on the affirming dignity she received during her relationship with her spiritual director. “I love my spiritual director!” Everyone has heard me say this…
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Advent 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…
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