Jamaica Mission Trip Franciscan Sisters
Sr. Mary Gemma with Tavien, a young woman from Seaford Town, Jamaica

“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God.” -1 John 4:7

These were the first words our Franciscan University of Steubenville Jamaica mission team heard as we came together for Mass the day before our departure. It wasn’t until I returned home and reflected on my experience that I realized just how significant they were.

In those days, the culture shock was considerable—85° heat, lush, green forests of banana and coconut, the sometimes barely-discernible Patois dialect, and the poverty of small Jamaican villages—but because our hearts were open, we could receive the love of these beautiful people, whom we, supposedly, were coming to love.

It surprised me how easy they were to love in spite of our differences. Even the group of about 25 students, the two friars and myself grew into a family by the end of the 10 days, though many of us had never met before. 10 of us were sent to Seaford Town, a small village about an hour’s drive inland from Montego Bay. Fr. Luke, a Polish missionary priest, serves at Sacred Heart Mission there. We spent our days walking in groups of 3 from house to house, praying with men and women, playing with children, and giving and receiving the love of Christ. So many of them are forever fixed in my memory.

There was Teresa, a 92-year old woman whom we found standing over her stove, stirring a pot of cornmeal porridge and singing about the glory of the Kingdom. We held hands and prayed together, and she said, full of joy, “Lord, I didn’t expect 3 visitors today!”

There were Mr. and Mrs. Samuels, a newly baptized and married couple who proudly showed us their wedding photos and cut open whole coconuts for us to drink.

There was Jacob, a blind man whose words made no sense until we began to sing “Amazing Grace.” He clung to my hand and sang every word with gusto, ending with a verse of “Praise God!”

In the evenings we would meet at an appointed place (much later than the appointed time, in true Jamaican fashion), a gas station, small shop or a town square, set up Fr. Luke’s sound system, and begin preaching about the mercy of God. Each of these night meetings was, for me, an experience of communion with those in the village. We never knew if anyone would show up and listen to us preach out of the back of Father’s silver Nissan pick-up, but there was always at least a small crowd. There were always at least a few women enthusiastic to sing us their Jamaican church songs, and a number of people who asked to receive prayer at the end of the night.

The most profound moments on any mission are often the simplest. I’ll never forget how, after lunch one day, I entered a hot kitchen full of women to help them tidy up. They spoke a thick Patois, but they understood I wanted to help, so they set it up. Two sinks: one of soapy water, one clear. I scrubbed, one woman rinsed, others dried and put away. We worked with few words, but were soon joking and smiling like family.

Jamaica Mission Franciscan Sisters TOR
Sr. Mary Gemma with Sr. Athanasie
There were also many similar moments with the two missionary sisters with whom I stayed in Seaford Town. Sr. Jhorna was from Bangladesh and Sr. Athanasie from Rwanda, and their religious vows found them assisting a Polish priest in a rural village in Jamaica! That, in itself, is a miracle, but perhaps equally miraculous was their embrace of this American sister who interrupted their lives for a week. I never felt like a burden, but rather, a sister to them.

After a few days, we had a rhythm. Sr. Jhorna and I would stay in chapel after Morning Prayer a few minutes, while Sr. Athanasie went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast things. Soon we could hear the kettle whistling and the ting of the toaster oven. I would come and set out the coffee, milk, cane sugar, and peanut butter, nourishment before a morning walking in the hot Caribbean sun.

One night, the electricity went out and Sr. Athanasie and I had dinner by candlelight. She brought tears to my eyes as she shared the story of her vocation and how she lost much of her extended family in the Rwandan genocide.

All these moments of communion culminated in our last prayer meeting at a little shop in a place called Dam Gate. Each of the student missionaries in our group lit a candle, symbolizing the light and love of Christ we came to share, before handing them out to those in the crowd. Then the Jamaicans passed them on to each other until everyone had held the light.

It sounds trite, but it is profoundly true: in the words of Pope Francis, “We need to strengthen the conviction that we are one single human family.” Or “One love … one heart,” to quote a well-known Jamaican, Bob Marley. There are no strangers—only brothers and sisters I haven’t met yet.

But I don’t need to go to Jamaica to love. Everywhere I go, I am home, and I am called to love there with the same intensity and desire I would have on a mission trip. Pray with me today for the grace to love in the simple moments, to love in closeness to others, to love with the love of God.

-Sr. Mary Gemma, T.O.R.
Jamaica Mission Trip Franciscan Sisters
Tavien's niece and nephew: Lisandre and Leon


Franciscan Sisters TOR Give Locally

Franciscan Sisters TOR give thanks for God’s multiplied gifts through one man’s heart

Franciscan Sisters TOR Give Locally
I hear the door click open, the squeak of the dolly's wheels.

Though I am new to the Franciscan Sisters TOR (just about two months old), this is a familiar scene.

It’s him, the sisters' personal bread Santa.
In he pushes a cart with two bulging black bags of loaves and cookies, as well as crisp apples peeking through the gap of a white box.

This simple man has been coming once a week for over 14 years.

After being inspired by watching a bakery throw away perfectly good bread, he got connected with a community in need: these vowed to poverty sisters.



Being a channel of God’s food for the poor has blessed him with faith:
“I learned from a homeless youth in Florida that God can multiply anything. God can multiple food, gas, air.
I drove 30 miles on a flat tire.
I used to go through two bottles of holy water like that (snaps his fingers). I prayed to our Holy Mother and now it’s like I’ve only used this much (pinches his thumb and pointer finger together).”

God even multiplied this act of bread-ness.

A Multiplication of Blessings for the Franciscan Sisters TOR

One day while bringing bread to the side door, the bread bearer saw a bunch of rotting bananas and prayed to our Holy Mother, ‘May these sisters have fresh food.’

He made a promise to heaven that he would give the sisters any bonuses he got from his benefactors.

The money started flowing in.

One benefactor gave him a car to safely deliver his bread.
The donor offered to pay for fresh fruits, vegetables, and dairy items too.

Franciscan Sisters TOR Give Locally

“This way they have fresh food as well as bread for the days they fast.”

This continued for years, until the benefactor decided to donate directly to the sisters, leaving the bread bearer to return once more to his carb offerings.

Through all of this, he takes no credit:
“They've been trying to take my picture for years. But it’s not me, it’s all Jesus. I always do work for religious for free. Doing work for Jesus…you get paid back in blessings. The praying these sisters do…ah! It’s amazing.”
This bread fuels the five hours of prayer the Franciscan Sisters TOR offer up daily.
This bread fuels their work to feed the poor in the community.  It even feeds the poor directly; these sweets fill hungry souls at the Samaritan House’s Friendship Room.

Franciscan Sisters TOR Give Locally


What is given to the Franciscan Sisters TOR allows them to give, helping others to live healthier spiritual, physical lives.

We are thankful to God for his generosity, for this food that multiplies into so many blessings for the bearer, the Franciscan Sisters TOR, and the community. May we all be channels of His peace. 
-Debra Reilly, Multimedia Assistant for the Franciscan Sisters TOR

Franciscan Sisters TOR Give Locally



"As contemplatives in the world, we esteem the value of prayer in itself for love of God and give ourselves wholeheartedly to the mission of Christ through the spiritual and corporal works of mercy" (Constitutions #1).

Franciscan Sisters TOR Works Mercy

Works of Mercy: Praying for the Living and the Dead

One of those works of mercy, a spiritual work of mercy, is to pray for the living and the dead.

Right now two of our sisters are having what we call a "hermitage experience", a more concentrated time of silence, solitude, contemplative work, and prayer.  In these two weeks after Christmas they are each praying for a special intention.

Sr. Agnes Therese is praying for peace throughout the world while Sr. Teresa is offering her prayer, work, and fasting for those who do not know or believe in God's mercy and for those for whom God's heart breaks.

Prayer and intercession are considered one of our main ministries and it is a gift for us to be able to life up to the Lord the dying, deceased, addicted, lost, priests, and families, and to pray for peace and reconciliation, and for a culture of life and the list goes on and on.

The two-week "hermitage experience" is but a taste of an aspect of our way of life that we are not yet fully living.  In the next couple of years, we hope to have 2-3 sisters begin living in a hermitage setting where they will live in a house together and more fully embrace the contemplative life.

"By embracing a more intense living of our prayer and penance, we seek to offer ourselves as a sacrifice of praise and adoration of God who is supremely loved, and to offer ourselves as a sacrifice of love and intercession for all of God's people" (Constitutions #62).

Last Christmas I had the incredible gift of doing my own "hermitage experience".

During those two weeks I offered my work, prayers, and other daily activities for the intention of those who are in darkness- that they would come to know the light of Christ.  I prayed especially for those who, in their own woundedness and brokenness (because of past hurts), can't even imagine a God who loves them.

Throughout my time, the Lord allowed my to see His faithfulness and goodness.  Through scripture, the Liturgy of the Hours, the Mass and many other ways, God spoke to my heart and showed me over and over again that He was answering my prayers and accepting the small offering of my simple, hidden work.

A couple of weeks later many of the sisters, myself included, watched The Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King.  If you have seen this movie you know there are many, many scenes portraying the powers of light versus the powers of darkness, but I was struck by one scene in particular and everything in me wanted to yell,

"PAUSE IT! Stop right here!  Let's just sit and pray with this!"

Faramir and his men are retreating from Osgiliath.  A dark shadow of clouds cover them and Nazguls are picking them off by the claw full as they ride to the protection of Minas Tirith.  Gandalf, the White Rider, rides out on his white horse to meet them.

As he approaches the impending darkness and retreating men he extends his staff and a powerful light radiates from it.

The entire scene changes.  The music/sounds go from the Nazguls screaming to what sounds like elves singing.

Immediately the Nazguls turn and flee from the light.  Gandalf then joins Faramir and his men and they all return to Minas Tirith safely.


I felt like I was watching, right there on the screen, what God had been doing in the people I had been praying for during my time in the hermitage!  

As I prayed for those who were in darkness God was sending his Holy Spirit (the light coming from Gandalf's staff) to enlighten their hearts and to disperse the evil that had been covering and pursuing them.  Jesus was bringing them under his protection, just as Gandalf brought his protection by his presence of riding to them and with them.

I also saw just how powerful the kingdom of light really is in relation to the enemy.  

The Nazgul are giant in comparison to the men, their screams deafening, and their claws sharp; yet when faced with the seemingly weak light from Gandalf's staff they flee immediately and go back to the darkness from where they came.

The devil seems big and brutal but he doesn't stand a chance against God's kingdom- God is always victorious!  The light wins over the darkness!

The Lord did not have to show me how he was hearing and answering my prayers and offerings during my "hermitage experience" but he chose to and as it all unfolded my faith was buoyed.

I began to pray with a more bold confidence as I lifted up people and situations to him because whether he shows me or not I know he is hearing my prayers and answering them according to his will.  As he does with all of our prayers!

May we all grow in prayer and intercession for the living and deceased!
-Sr. Sophia Grace Huschka, T.O.R.
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