As I made the bed of the mom who was about to move in, all I could do was pray that the smell of fresh linens made her feel a little more at home. After all, my mom always said that a freshly made bed was one of the most wonderful things on earth. I…
If there’s one thing I’ve learned at Maggie’s Place, it’s that love is beautiful, even when it’s messy. Our Patron Saint, Mary Magdalene, is a beautiful example of what it means to love, even when love is messy. Before arriving here in the Arizona desert, I already looked up to the example of Mary Magdalene…
The road that brought me to Maggie’s Place at the beginning of August was full of twists and turns; a constant ride of uphill climbs and downhill soars. When I accepted the MissionCorps position in December of my senior year, my spiritual life was at an all-time high. I was so ready to minister to…
“Eleven women of distinct and unique ethnic backgrounds and cultures move into a house together…” This could sound like the beginning of a joke, but at Maggie’s Place, this is the beginning of a daily reality. I live with, work with, and love 10 women of vastly different backgrounds than myself on a daily basis.…
They come to us unexpectedly. They come to us broken, betrayed, and burdened by a world that has let them down. They come to us looking for a place of peace amidst the storm they’ve been trying to survive. Their passage through our front door transforms them from a stranger to our beloved sister in…
As I get older, I find myself speechless by the grace of God more and more often. As it becomes more precious and real to me, it somehow simultaneously becomes a deeper mystery. And the real gift in it is that He shows up with lessons of grace in ways that are upside down and…
Maria stumbles through the door with a heavy car seat. Her baby girl, whom she just picked up from daycare, is crying out of hunger. Maria is exhausted from a hard day’s work, but proceeds to do her chore, feed and change her baby, wash the bottles, and somehow hold a personable conversation with me.…
Fear, triumph, trust, compassion, victory, failure, births, sobriety. Maggie’s Place is full of lots of hard, lots of messy things. Amidst it all, one thing is overwhelmingly true for life at Maggie’s Place: the call to encounter each other in every circumstance. I wasn’t expecting how difficult it would be not to shy away from…
The MissionCorps of Maggie’s Place begin and end the day with the mantra “Divine Providence can provide. Divine Providence did provide. Divine Providence will provide.” We say this as a reminder of the radical trust in God that is required to do our job. We can say this, we can have this trust, because time…
I can’t help at this time of year but to be reminded of the journey that Mary had to take to get to a safe place to have her baby. She traveled the streets of Bethlehem to find someplace that had space for her to lay her head, a place that was clean and secure. I…