I was born and raised in a practicing Catholic household in Jacksonville, FL, but didn’t have a personal relationship with Jesus until my junior year of high school where I experienced powerful moments in Confession, Adoration, and youth group. This put me on a track to follow the Lord Jesus as I left home for Boston College in Fall 2019. My first couple of years of walking with Jesus could accurately be described as what Paul writes in Romans 7:15 (“For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate”). However, when I returned to Boston College for my sophomore year in Fall 2020, I felt called to receive our Lord in the Holy Eucharist more than just once a week. By the end of the year I was a near daily Mass goer, and could better hear the voice and discern the will of God for my life. This made my friendship with Jesus much more tangible, personal, and live-able, and my heart and mind was becoming more fully His. 

 

Soon after, I dropped my study of Politics and began to study Philosophy with faithful friends and professors, including Dr. Peter Kreeft. I dove deeper into the truths and mysteries of the Faith, ending my time at BC with a degree in Philosophy and minor in Theology, while also having run the Catholic Men’s group and Pro-Life group for extended periods of time. My senior year at BC, I received admission to Franciscan University of Steubenville’s Theology Master’s program (I got in on my 22nd birthday!), and I accepted the offer soon after. I’ve been at Franciscan since August 2023 where I’ve grown ever deeper in my love for Jesus Christ and His Church, and by His grace I have stayed faithful to His call to walk with and learn from Him. 

During my time at Franciscan, I met Will, a missionary from Source of All Hope, and prayed and thought about joining Source for the summer. I felt drawn to encounter Jesus in the men and women experiencing homelessness as Jesus is truly hidden in them, and my heart is for Him and all His people. While I was at BC and even more so at Franciscan, I fell in love with Jesus, especially in the Holy Eucharist, in prayer, and in community, but only limitedly (and this is my fault!), experienced His all-loving Presence in the homeless, and so He’s leading me deeper into His love with the homeless. Along with experiencing Christ in the homeless, I want to be a Source missionary to learn from the homeless themselves in dependence on God, knowing that we are all beggars before God, and that by relying on my Father in Heaven for all as these men and women already do, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Also, we are body and soul, not merely minds, and so getting away from good academics in learning the teachings of Christ and true wisdom, and truly not just learning about caring for, but actually ‘hugging the leper’ as St. Francis did at the beginning of his Abrahamic journey with God, is what Jesus Christ is calling me towards, to love God with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength (including bodily strength). 

 

I was offered acceptance to the Source Summer 2025 missionary program in December 2024 and accepted soon after. I look forward to tending to Jesus who, while glorified in Heaven after His Ascension, is still suffering on the Cross in His mystical Body, and I hope to be like St. John and comfort Him and His Mother while He suffers, but greater glory, in the lives of the homeless of Baltimore, Maryland.