Greetings during these weeks of summer. I hope they provide opportunities for you to enjoy parks, swimming pools, beaches or mountains, to reconnect with family and friends, or to engage in a fun hobby awaiting your slower pace.
We had hoped to be sharing our synthesis report this week and apologize for its delay as a member of our design team needed to tend to the health emergencies of relatives. Thanks for your prayers for needed healing. We are using this time to translate the synthesis into Spanish and hope to share both the English and Spanish versions soon.
About this week’s newsletter…
Sunday’s Gospel reading highlighted the sisterly quarrel between Martha and Mary over “diakonia” – service. It’s an interesting and multi-layered text to contemplate, and in our preaching section below we feature a couple of reflections from Dr. Susan McGurgan on Catholic Women Preach and myself in U.S. Catholic (posted below).
This week our Church celebrates the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, and I invite you to join me in pondering how the holy witness of Martha, Mary, Mary Magdalene and the Syrophoenician woman continue to ripple out and influence our own times as we discern the Holy Spirit’s call today.