Visions of Visitation: Love in Motion
Day 19: How Can This Be?
Editor’s Note: On the nineteenth and final day of our 2025 Advent blog series, “Visions of Visitation: Love in Motion,” DC Service Corps volunteer Sam Alves reflects on Mary’s response to the Archangel Gabriel during the Annunciation. How can this be: that a day worker, a homeless man, a convicted criminal, a man accused of…
Day 18: A New Song, Of Christmas Singing
Editor’s Notes: On the seventeenth day of our 2025 Advent blog series, “Visions of Visitation: Love in Motion,” DC Service Corps volunteer David Adah-Ogoh uses a Middle English Christmas carol to reflect on the fulfillment of God’s promises. In this blog, David uses the word “lullay,” a Middle English verb meaning to make soothing sounds…
Day 17: Light and Joy
Editor’s Note: On the seventeenth day of our 2025 Advent blog series, “Visions of Visitation: Love in Motion,” DC Service Corps volunteer Claire Schwalb reflects on sharing the light of Christ through choosing to share joy. “[With] Mary’s visit to Elizabeth, she becomes the model for those in the Church who set out to bring…
Day 16: Hope of the Humble
Editor’s Note: On the sixteenth day of our 2025 Advent blog series, “Visions of Visitation: Love in Motion,” DC Service Corps alumnus Sam Hardwick reflects on the humility of his baby, Leo and relates Leo’s confidence that his parents will take care of him to how we can approach our relationship with God. “Mary’s song,…
Day 15: Remembering His Mercy, Mercy at the Courthouse
Editor’s Note: On the fifteenth day of our 2025 Advent blog series, “Visions of Visitation: Love in Motion,” recently returned lay missioner Kim Wagner shares a moment of mercy that she witnessed while she accompanied a family in an immigration courthouse. “He has helped Israel his servant, remembering his mercy.” – Luke 1:54 As I…
Day 14: My Spirit Rejoices
Editor’s Note: On the fourteenth day of our 2025 Advent blog series, “Visions of Visitation: Love in Motion,” DC Service Corps alumna and current Communications Coordinator Madeline Turley reflects on how her spirit rejoices with gratitude while she serves her family. “But service risks being fruitless without praise to God. Indeed, when Mary enters the…
Day 13: Genuine Connection
Editor’s Note: On the thirteenth day of our 2025 Advent blog series, “Visions of Visitation: Love in Motion,” DC Service Corps volunteer Brigid Dunn reflects on how she shares Jesus’ love at her ministry site, in the Casa, and throughout Washington, DC by connecting with others. “Mary is an example of a young person who…
Day 12: Waiting Together
Editor’s Note: On the twelfth day of our 2025 Advent blog series, “Visions of Visitation: Love in Motion,” FMS Executive Director Maggie Conley reflects on how she waits with lay missioners and DC Service Corps volunteers and witnesses the growth that they experience during their waiting. “People who have to wait have received a promise…
Day 11: Mary Remained with Her, Linger Long
Editor’s Note: On the eleventh day of our 2025 Advent blog series, “Visions of Visitation: Love in Motion,” DC Service Corps volunteer Claire Fisher reflects on how she has learned to “linger long” throughout her year of service. If I have learned anything in my year of service, it is to linger long. Each night…
Day 10: The Mother of My Lord
Editor’s Note: On the tenth day of our 2025 Advent blog series, “Visions of Visitation: Love in Motion,” FMS Program Manager Julia Pinto (OLM Class 37) reflects on the unwavering faith the migrants whom she accompanied during her time on mission, particularly through their devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe. “And why has this happened…
Day 9: Service to Our Neighbor
Editor’s Note: On the ninth day of our Advent blog series, “Visions of Visitation: Love in Motion,” lay missioner Susan Sarkissian reflects on the many ways that the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany, who she lives and serves with on mission, serve their community. “Hail, full of grace” (Luke 1:28). These words spoken by the angel Gabriel…
Day 8: Sharing Hope
Editor’s Note: On the eighth day of our 2025 Advent blog series, “Visions of Visitation, Love in Motion,” DC Service Corps alumna and FMS Interim Grants Manager Bridget Higginbotham reflects on how she serves as a source of hope for her friends and how she has experienced hope through her community. This January, I was…
Day 7: Leaped for Joy
Editor’s Note: On the seventh day of our Advent blog series, “Visions of Visitation: Love in Motion” Br. Sam Roberts, OFM Cap. reflects on genuine joy as a gift from the Holy Spirit. “For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy.” -Luke 1:44 There…
Day 6: Filled with the Holy Spirit
Editor’s Note: On the sixth day of our 2025 Advent blog series, “Visions of Visitation: Love in Motion,” Sr. Catherine Rotterman, CSSF shares how she experienced the Holy Spirit through others and reflects on how Mary encountered the Holy Spirit through Elizabeth. “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth,…
Day 5: Thinking More of Others
Editor’s Note: On the fifth day of our 2025 Advent blog series, “Visions of Visitation: Love in Motion,” House Manager Lindsay Doucette reflects on how she experiences belonging and community at Casa San Salvador. “Mary was motivated by the needs of her elderly cousin. She did not hold back, or remain indifferent. She thought more…
Day 4: Bridging Differences
Editor’s Note: On the fourth day of our 2025 Advent blog series, “Visions of Visitation: Love in Motion,” FMS board member Maeve Gilheney-Gallagher, (OLM Class 30) reflects on having a spirit of openness, which allows her to accompany her sisters and brothers. Several times a month, I spend my Saturday mornings delivering groceries to members…
Day 3: Without Hesitation
Editor’s Note: On the third day of our 2025 Advent blog series, “Visions of Visitation: Love in Motion,” DC Service Corps volunteer Claire Bosch reflects on Mary’s moments in between the Annunciation and the Visitation. “Mary’s haste is thus a sign of her desire to serve, to proclaim her joy, to respond without hesitation to…
Day 2: Compelled to Share
Editor’s Note: On the second day of our 2025 Advent blog series, “Visions of Visitation: Love in Motion,” lay missioner Mary Liston Liepold, OFS reflects on the gifts that she has been blessed with and how she shares them during her time on mission. “The haste of the young woman of Nazareth is the haste…
Day 1: Go in Haste
Editor’s Note: On the first day of our 2025 Advent blog series, “Visions of Visitation: Love in Motion,” DC Service Corps alumna Emily Dold reflects on Mary’s example of going in haste and relates this to the community she has connected with through Franciscan Mission Service. Christmas is on its way. Jesus is on his…
Advent Blog Series 2025 “Visions of Visitation: Love in Motion”
Editor’s Note: To begin our 2025 Advent blog series, DC Service Corps volunteer Claire Bosch and DCSC alumna/FMS Interim Grants Manager Bridget Higginbotham introduce the theme of “Visions of Visitation: Love in Motion” by reflecting on how the Visitation relates to the mission of FMS. “When we feel loved, we experience a force that sets…
