Encountering Christ in Mexico City
Each year, senior Spanish students at FGR join Renewal Ministries for a mission trip to Mexico City during the school’s Spring Break. Upon their return, students share with the broader school community the experiences they encountered in Mexico. Megan Szczypka caught up with several students who shared reflections with her.
During this past senior mission trip to Mexico City, our students were invited into an encounter that went far beyond service. For six days marking a 20-year senior mission tradition, they stepped into spaces of poverty, vulnerability, joy, and profound faith. In doing so, they were invited to see Christ more clearly.
From the very beginning, the Lord was at work. Some students arrived carrying physical struggles, anxieties, or spiritual weariness. Yet early in the week, they noticed something remarkable: despite the demanding physical labor, they weren’t exhausted. They felt deeply nourished. It was a quiet reminder that God often meets us in our weakness, not despite it. Amid the busyness of service, God continued to draw students deeper into Himself. Daily Mass shifted from an obligation into an anchor.
“Mass every day changed something in me,” Mary Koss’26 shared. “Now, three days a week doesn’t feel like enough.”
Adoration offered a sacred space for rest. Not only for weary bodies, but for hearts. Without distractions or expectations, students sat in silence and allowed the Lord to meet them where they were.
“I felt His presence in a way I never had before,” Lily Giordano ’26 reflected. “When I quieted my heart, there was this overwhelming peace.”
Many students noted how much easier it felt to recognize God in Mexico. It wasn’t because He was more present there, but because there was less competing for their attention. The absence of constant noise, schedules, and material concerns allowed them to see that God is often revealed in simplicity.
This simplicity came alive on the railroad tracks, where Sr. Lashaway and Eduardo Ramirez ’26 met two men from the local community. They made necklaces for them featuring glow-in-the-dark crosses and invited the men warmly to share a meal with the group, even though they seemed to be outsiders. They even asked Father to bless them, and the joy on the men’s faces was unmistakable as they received the blessing.
Throughout the week, the sheer volume of work should have taken a heavy toll, but the exhaustion didn’t set in until the students were finally resting on their way home. They attributed this entirely to the Holy Spirit providing energy, returning home with a fundamentally changed outlook on life, carrying less desire to complain outwardly, and a greater desire to live with presence and gratitude.
Devotion to Our Lady also left a lasting impression. Faith was lived openly and confidently, beautifully woven into daily life.
“No one was ashamed,” Mary and Lily shared. “Mary [Our Blessed Mother)] is loved openly here. Their faith shapes their whole community.”
Throughout the week, students encountered Christ most powerfully in the people they were sent to serve. At the orphanage, language barriers and disabilities dissolved in the presence of love. Each student interviewed reflected upon sitting among several residents with severe disabilities. No words were exchanged, yet there was no fear or hesitation either.
“They were not afraid of us,” Lily revealed. “They were not afraid to love or be loved. And in their joy and trust, I saw Jesus.”
This love was uncomplicated, sincere, and deeply human. It revealed something the students began to recognize repeatedly: that Christ is not distant, but fully present where love is freely given and received.
At the garbage dump, students witnessed life lived with striking faith and generosity. Families welcomed them into their homes—spaces of work, survival, and dignity. Mothers entrusted students with their children, and community members guided them through narrow paths with openness and trust. There was no shame in poverty, only a deep awareness that their lives were held securely by God.
One moment in particular stayed with many students: a young boy received food, then immediately gave it to his younger sister.
“That kept happening,” Mary said. “People gave to others before themselves.”
Despite material scarcity, joy overflowed. Students could not ignore the contrast between the restlessness so common at home and the peace they witnessed here.
“They have nothing,” Mary and Lily reflected, “yet they have everything in the Lord.”
Through distributing food, clothing, shoes, toiletries, toys, and even suitcases, some donated after years of careful keeping through the program, students saw generosity that asked nothing in return. They watched people remove boots from their own feet to give them away, inspiring some students to do the same. They saw profound gratitude for even the smallest gift.
In the medical clinics, students participated in another quiet ministry of care: counting pills, labeling prescriptions, and tenderly handing medication to those who had no other access to healthcare. Even there, efficiency gave way to reverence, and each person was seen, named, and cared for.
As the week ended, students realized that the greatest gift they received was not something they could pack and bring home. It was a changed vision. Complaints softened into gratitude. Restlessness into contentment. Distraction into awareness.
“The Lord adjusted our eyes,” the students reflected, “so we could see Him more clearly: especially in the little things.”
The mission did not end in Mexico City. Students returned knowing that the call remains the same at home: to live simply, to love without fear, to notice Christ in each person, and to trust that He is still at work. This trip serves as a beautiful reminder to all of us that joy does not come from having more, but from surrendering more fully to the God who already gives us everything.