Anna, a recent graduate from the University of Mary, will be serving as a missionary with FOCUS (The Fellowship of Catholic University Students) for the next two years, but her mission isn’t to simply serve an organization—it’s to encounter those around her in love and help them develop a relationship with Jesus Christ in a personal and meaningful way.
There’s a certain “method,” Anna says, to being a missionary as outlined by FOCUS, but ultimately modeled by the Master. She poses, however, that because we are all human, and because the ways we encounter each other are different, being on mission and serving those around us isn’t as cut and dry as a simple method. Anna sees the importance of developing friendships outside the bounds of FOCUS in order to foster and maintain intentional growth in tandem with others. She emphasizes the value of meeting people where they are and growing in love for them and the people and things that they hold dear.
When asked how she discovered the mission she was being called to and why she decided to embrace it, Anna responded by saying it started with a radical re-version to her Catholic faith while she was studying abroad in Rome, during her sophomore year of college. She stated, “It threw my life upside down in the most beautiful way,” and she became involved with FOCUS on her campus upon returning from Rome. She found encouragement in her relationship with Christ through meeting with mentors and participating in Bible studies. Anna confidently said, “If it wasn’t for their (her mentors’) ‘yes’s’ along the way, of saying ‘yes’ to inviting me into this relationship with them, I would not be where I am.” She went on, “It’s an accumulation of all of these people’s personal journeys with Christ that led me to this point.” The love and investment that she received from several people in the past couple of years inspired Anna to become a missionary and give her “yes” as well.
Because several hundred individuals serve with FOCUS, I asked Anna how her mission could be considered unique from the others. She says that, objectively, there is nothing unique to the mission that she is furthering, as far as answering the call to evangelization and discipleship, but Anna doesn’t stop there. She has been charged with the task of encountering people that the Lord, in His wisdom and providence, has set apart for her, and that’s what will make her specific mission unique. Anna notes the parallels between mission work and simply living life because we are all set apart to encounter specific people—in our families, jobs, classes, activities, etc.—and we, too, have been charged with loving and investing in them. She says, “We are all entrusted to each other, and that’s what makes this unique. The Lord has set this plan for my life, and He has put specific people in it that I am supposed to evangelize and develop a relationship with.”
Being on mission, Anna articulates, correlates to being in-tune with the Lord’s will for our lives, and this comes from developing a relationship with Him—most importantly, developing trust in Him. She says we can’t be on mission without having a relationship with the Lord. By saying “yes” to the Lord’s will and to a relationship with Him, we become more who we are meant to be. If you would like to join Anna on her mission of serving the students at Wayne State in Detroit, please consider donating to help fund her salary by following this link: https://www.focus.org/missionaries/anna-picasso