Kelsey is on mission in Romania.

One of the eldest sons of a family that we visit at least once a week, M., has grown up with the volunteers of Con-solatio. This spring he became the first in his family to graduate from high school. When he went with one of the volunteers to receive his diploma, the director who gave it to him was the same woman who 12 years ago refused to let the young gypsy M. enter her school until one of the Con-solatio volunteers convinced her that M. deserved to go to school. Imagine her surprise 12 years later! “You’re an example for all the other young gypsy children!” 

Now, as he is deciding what to do after high school, he looks to his Con-solatio family for advice and support. A beautiful first step was saying yes to a week of formation at the home in Deva with some Romanian volunteers preparing to go on mission. For him, a week of prayers, talks, and apostolate, disconnected from social media, far from his family, and with an intense community life was quite a change! But he truly lived the week fully with us – what a grace!

During the talk about how we seek to have a loving and compassionate gaze upon our friends, upon each person we meet, he responded by saying, “That is how the Con-solatio volunteers have gazed upon me my entire life!” I am moved once again by the importance of our simple presence and of a loving gaze in the lives of our friends.