Hello! My name is Abby, and I was born and raised in northeastern Florida. I recently graduated from Franciscan University of Steubenville with an undergraduate degree in philosophy. Though I had long planned on immediately pursuing my master’s degree and working full time in the pro-life movement, I began to feel that God was calling me to something different. When I discovered Con-solatio I felt deeply attracted to both its spirituality and its special focus on forming friendships with those suffering from loneliness, poverty, and broken families.

Con-solatio’s spirituality emphasizes each person’s call to emulate Mary at the foot of the cross. This image deeply resonates with me and I hope to learn during my time in El Salvador to enter into others’ suffering as Mary did. I am drawn to the ordinariness of Consolatio’s mission which seeks to glimpse Christ in everyday joys and tragedies. I believe that the purpose of my mission does not lie in anything that I will do but in what I seek to be: a friend, a fellow missionary, and even a reflection of Christ’s own tenderness. Christ chose to spend thirty-three years simply being with the poor, the lonely, the ill, and the outcasted. I desire to imitate the ordinariness of Christ, that simple love hidden in dirty streets, echoed in little houses, and breathed into festering wounds.

I know that this mission will be very difficult, and I am incapable of participating in it without your help. Most of all, I ask you for your prayers. I am deeply grateful to those who have chosen to join in Con-solatio’s work either spiritually or financially or both. Thank you and know that you have my prayers!