Learning to Love Better

The end of my junior year of college heralded many decisions on the horizon for senior year and beyond: Should I write a thesis? Should I be an RA? Would it be better to apply to graduate school immediately or to do a year of service first? Who did I want to be after school and what did I want to do with a world full of possibilities? While these questions often coalesced into a very confusing landscape, I found it was easier to navigate through the lens of a conviction I had gained over the course of my recently completed internship with Notre Dame Campus Ministry: God put us here to love and be loved.

I did my best to keep this conviction in the forefront as I explored post-grad options, especially in light of my ongoing discernment of a broader call to ministry. This resulted in a thirst for formation that hovered in the back of my mind as I looked into various grad school and service programs. When I met Jenny Rose via another recruiter at Notre Dame’s post-grad service breakfast, one of the first things I asked her about was the spiritual formation component of FrancisCorps. Especially since I was very nervous about networking for the first time, I appreciated her thorough answer, her encouragement to keep asking that question as I talked to other programs, and her sharing that by the end of a year with FrancisCorps, their hope is that community, service, and formation all become intertwined.

Several months later, I got to see a glimpse of that unified experience when I joined FrancisCorps 26 for a Community Night in May consisting of a shared meal, communal prayer, and an ice cream trip to Gannon’s filled with lots of helpful conversation about our discernment journeys. The authentic welcome and transparency that I encountered at FrancisCorps during my visit as well as the variety of ministries that I could experience at the Brady Faith Center made me believe that this could be a place where I could learn to love better for a year, all while surrounded by people who would love me as well. Since moving in seven weeks ago, my expectations about being supported and loved by my community have been far surpassed both within FrancisCorps itself and in the greater Syracuse community. So far, I have loved getting to know my community members and some of my neighbors at Brady. I’m excited for those relationships to expand and deepen over the course of this year as we walk with each other further into Christ’s heart.

Categories: General

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