22 April 2019
Monday in the Octave of Easter
Today I consider the holy women who come to the tomb. It is empty. Immediately they realize its significance: Jesus has risen. They rush to announce this news to the apostles. On their way Jesus appears to them, offers them his peace, tells them not to be afraid and to continue their special mission.
Isn’t it odd that Jesus did not first appear to the apostles, his special friends and future bishops of the Church? Odder still: Isn’t it curious that he first commissioned women to announce to the world that he indeed conquered sin and death and, obliquely, founded the Church?
From the very beginning the vocation of the holy women differed in kind from that of the apostles, described in today’s 1st reading, but was the same in essence. The Risen Christ’s message was then, as it is now, to share, to communicate. By our different vocations he calls us all to be witnesses to his Resurrection.
The witness of women in the Church today is desperately needed, more so than ever before. The world needs to see faithful Catholic wives, good mothers, feminine girls, humble religious. By their witness, uniquely expressed in words and deeds, they announce that Christ has died; Christ is risen and Christ will come again.
I shall pray today to those saintly women who first announced the Resurrection to make intercession for an increase of women like themselves in the Church today.