inspirada en la vida de Chris Posch, nuestro hermano inspired by the life of Chris Posch, our brother Here I am, aquí estoy, open heart, open arms, present to God who is with you. Para cantar y para bailar, (to sing and to dance) to rejoice in God’s goodness to us. Para alabar [...]
For most people, I’d be willing to bet that the past year or so has changed their general relationship with expectations or assumptions. I know that for myself, this switch has been major, especially as it applies to my time as an FVM. I had planned on a year of service for at least [...]
My first days as an FVM at the St. Francis Inn are a blur. There was some nervousness, self-consciousness, and a little homesickness. These are the earmarks of an enormous life change. Somehow, though, all those feelings disappeared in the whirl of learning how to do 100 new tasks; meeting a multitude of new [...]
It isn’t an easy year to do service. Because of social distancing requirements, guests aren’t allowed to come into the St. Francis Inn as they used to, where we would serve them meals, restaurant style; instead, we’ve been giving them bagged meals to-go. When I’m at the bag window, most conversations are limited as [...]
At the St. Francis Inn, there is a sign on the inside of the door that says “Smile--Jesus is at the door!”, reminding team members and volunteers that no matter how late they are after the meal, no matter what their request is, whoever is at the door holds God within them. What a [...]
God is good. All the time. A common saying among believers, and for my generation it is even used as a call and response. Where one person will say “God is good” and then you would respond with “All the time”. It has become such a common saying that it has somehow lost its [...]
Franciscan Volunteer Ministry is a ministry of and rooted in the spirit, work and support of Franciscan Friars of Holy Name Province. Each FVM community is blessed with a Friar Site Supervisor who serves them as mentor and friend throughout their ministry. In July of 2020, FVM had to say goodbye to a loving [...]
Please try to forgive me for my naivety. However, I never expected to stumble upon a masterpiece of a mural in the pedestrian tunnel on 5th street right by the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. It’s possible David and Deaynna didn’t either. Liam did however, as evidenced by the fact that he purposely led us to [...]
For those who practice service, moments of reflection can come from the most unexpected situations. I couldn’t have guessed it myself, but barreling down a Philadelphia highway in a large van lovingly named “Orca” (as in the whale), hauling boxes of cakes, bread, and meat on a Wednesday morning (10 a.m., to be precise) is [...]
Peace and Good everyone. To be honest, I had a very hard time trying to figure out what to send this week. There is a lot happening in the world and it would be irresponsible of me to ignore it. Growing up I struggled with my faith because I only saw religion as another [...]
