I Texted My Family “… I Feel Really at Peace”

In all honesty I had planned to apply to a different year of service program. That may be shocking to start with but that’s the truth. That program had been my plan since I was a sophomore in college. In the fall I applied and felt good about it, but then I heard I was not accepted. I was shocked, the question, what will I do now after post grad raced through my mind. So, I called my mom— panicked. My mom works for my parish back home and later that same day she had a conversation with one of her colleagues, who spoke highly of FrancisCorps and AJ in particular. Her daughter had done the program and loved it. So my mom called me and told me about it. At this point, I had begun to feel great peace. I knew that if I was meant to be there then God would have opened that door. So I looked into FrancisCorps and started the application process. 

As I said, I had been planning to do a year of service for a little over two years at this point. There were many reasons for this, one logical reason was it provided a clear and therefore reassuring plan for after graduation. But more importantly, I wanted to grow in my faith and that is why I didn’t want to do just any year of service, I wanted to be a part of a program where that was the focus. And that is why I find it to be such a blessing that my original program of choice didn’t work out, because in hindsight FrancisCorps’ structure and commitments were almost guaranteed to facilitate that, where other programs might not. I also wanted to serve as a way to grow myself—to learn more about who I am and get a better grip on what I wanted to do with my career. And in sum all of this meant getting to serve others—to meet the needs of others, those that really needed help. To provide help in a tangible way. So that is why I said “yes” to FrancisCorps, I knew I would grow in faith, career, and service. And how could I pass that up? Growing in faith through service and community is what I’m looking forward to most. I can’t imagine who I may be a year from now. 

As of now, things are going so well. Moving in was easy. The house felt so cozy and welcoming. With not only the furnishings, but a rec room filled with games, a linen closet filled with homey bedding and more, I felt comfortable. Then we had orientation retreat. Throughout the retreat we did activities that allowed us to get to know each other’s stories and bond. We learned in fun ways about St. Francis and St. Clare. And we learned more about the program. After the first night of retreat I texted my family, “It is going so well … feel so cared for, that this is so thought out and intentional. I am so excited to get to know these girls and get to know God … I just feel rlly at peace like this is exactly where i am meant to be.” This perfectly sums up how I felt. It’s so crazy to look back on how little we all knew each other when we first moved in. Because after retreat, I felt so accepted and blessed to be in such a great group, and felt like I had gotten to know my roommates so well. Now, this past week of service has been all over the place for me. I’ve had training, orientation, and more training. And then I got sick, but then I got better, but it has been amazing nonetheless. As for today, I still feel very at peace. I feel like I’ve been here for a month already in the very best way. I feel extremely lucky that God has brought me here and I pray He keeps growing my heart. 

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