I have been captivated by Jesus, most especially in the Eucharist and in the poor. At the end of highschool, I encountered Jesus in the Eucharist and, for the first time I can remember, I heard Him directly speak to me. During college mission trips, I was able to encounter the openness and vulnerability of the poor; I then began to fall in love with them. When I spent a summer with Source of All Hope, I found that my love for the poor and for Jesus in the Eucharist became one. It was incredible to me how the poor and Jesus in the Eucharist shared so many characteristics; they are both extremely vulnerable, many pass them by and fail to acknowledge their dignity, yet they are both so open and willing to invite you into their lives and hearts. This drew me closer to Christ and I found myself in love with the city of Baltimore, the people, and the mission of Source of All Hope.

This past year, I felt the Lord, especially through the Blessed Mother and the Holy Family, inviting me to return to Source of All Hope for a year of mission. Initially, I couldn’t name the reason why Christ was making this invitation, but I continued to converse about this decision with Him. He slowly began to remind and reveal how my heart longed for Him in the Eucharist and in the poor and outcast. I couldn’t ignore the desires that He had written on my heart; I was longing to return to the streets and live life with the men and women of Baltimore. I knew I would be rejecting these desires if I would choose to say ‘no.’ This moment in prayer has fueled my conviction and desire to let the Lord use me for His mission with the poor and neglected in Baltimore. 

In addition to this invitation, it has been a beautiful thing to have allowed the Lord to heal and enter into my own heart more fully in this past year, for this has only set my heart more ablaze for the mission of Source. The Lord has set me free from my own sin, darkness, and shame and transformed these into something beautiful: these are no longer the things that define who I am but have become part of my story and become greater areas of depth for the Lord to come and fill with His grace and mercy. This is why I am a missionary for Source of All Hope; to preach this message of freedom to others, to continue to live in the gaze of my Redeemer in the Eucharist, and to invite others to experience His eyes of love and mercy.