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PREACHING FOR TODAY
FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
July 15, 2018
Preaching from Nairobi, Kenya, Heidi Cerneka offers a reflection on missionary discipleship for the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary time.

"We are chosen, and we are sent. Every scripture reading today irrefutably tells us that. They do not say “some” are chosen, or “those people” are chosen. They say that “we” are chosen. God calls each of us to missionary discipleship."

But what is missionary discipleship? Heidi offers one image that may be helpful: "What are my security blankets today that Jesus calls me to leave at home or to not be distracted by? Things I might use to buffer me from direct contact with others or that get in the way of my truly connecting with people? My cell phone? My academic titles? My skin color? And how can I disarm myself so that like in the Gospel, I can truly approach others and be unencumbered enough to accept their hospitality, to meet people where they are so as to walk with them? "

And while Heidi lives her call to missionary discipleship as a Maryknoll Lay Missioner, she reminds us that our homes and neighborhoods need missionary disciples too: "My own invitation to missionary discipleship has taken me far beyond emotional, cultural and geographical borders. Sometimes though, Jesus sends us as disciples right to our own backyard, maybe our school, our community, or even in our own home. The call is to radical but profound faith - to put down our security blankets, even those that we feel are most necessary, to trust, and to go out to meet others. To do that, we must listen carefully and deeply to our God, and then we must act. "
Heidi Cerneka has lived in Latin America for over 20 years, and is currently living in Nairobi, Kenya, working with incarcerated women and refugees. She holds Master’s degree in Pastoral theology. Additionally, after 20 years of advocacy for women and justice, she decided to return to school and to obtain a law degree. She is now a licensed attorney in the state of Illinois. She has served as a Maryknoll Lay Missioner (MKLM) for almost 20 years, and is on the MKLM board of directors. Maryknoll Lay Missioners is a lay Catholic organization inspired by Jesus and the Gospel to live and work for justice in communities around the world.

PREACHING FOR NEXT WEEK
FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
July 22, 2018
Samantha Lin preaches for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, offering a reflection on community and unity.

Reading the signs of the times, she reflects, " We see the physical struggle over inclusion/exclusion on our borders; we witness the underlying reckoning with identity as the citizens and residents of the United States struggle to define, whether by exclusion or inclusion, who is an “American”. I think in particular of my time spent with Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement program in Chicago and my own personal grappling with this idea; were you American only if you contributed to society? If you wanted to live somewhere else, but were forced to be here by circumstance, were you American? If you did not speak the language, understand the American principles or care to integrate into society, but were living here, were you American?"

Rather than define ourselves by what makes us different, she encourages us to see ourselves as community, " Perhaps this is at the heart of all the “defining” that we do in our daily lives; widening the circle. So as we go forth, let our own hearts imitate that of a weary, hungry, Jesus. What would the world look like if, instead of defining ourselves in contrast to others, we let ourselves be moved by pity, as Jesus was?"   
Samantha Lin is a Virginia native who earned her bachelor’s degree in Foreign Service from the Georgetown University Walsh School of Foreign Service in 2014. In 2012, Samantha studied in Amman, Jordan and simultaneously taught English to refugee kids through Jesuit Refugee Services Jordan. After graduating, Samantha served with Jesuit Volunteer Corp in Chicago where she worked in refugee resettlement. She has also worked with Seeds of Peace, an international peacebuilding camp for teenagers from the Middle East, South Asia and the US. In 2015 Samantha was granted the Russell Berrie Fellowship in Interreligious Studies to study in Rome and remained there after the year-long fellowship, recently earning her diploma in Judaic Studies from the Pontifical Gregorian University.

FEAST OF ST. MARY OF MAGDALA
July 22, 2018
Colleen Griffith preaches for the Feast of St. Mary of Magdala, offering a prayerful meditation addressed to Mary herself:

" Mary of Magdala, did we think that calling you a redeemed harlot and presenting you a repentant woman was a better way of dealing with your provocative presence on our biblical pages? Did this make you a more manageable figure for us, more controllable in terms of your influence? 
Was it easier to fashion you as a penitent prostitute than to deal with the profound depth of your relationship with Jesus, that gave rise to your exemplary leadership?"

She then turns to the scriptural Mary of today's Gospel who is first to witness Jesus' Resurrection and comes to a final prayer, "Mary of Magdala, stay present, that the blessing of your life will continue in us, women and men alike, who long to love and lead in ways both wide and deep, and yestrue, utterly true."
Dr. Colleen M. Griffith is Professor of the Practice of Theology at Boston College’s School of Theology and Ministry where she serves as Faculty Director of Spirituality Studies for the M.A. program. the dual degrees, and the Post-Master’s Program in Spiritual Formation.  She holds her doctorate in Theology from Harvard Divinity School, where she worked under the direction of historical theologian Margaret Miles.  Dr. Griffith’s research and writing interests include historical and contemporary spirituality, Christian theologies of the body, method in practical theology, and exploration of the relationship between doctrine and spiritual practice. 
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