The Easter Vigil Gospel reminds us of “the women who had come from Galilee with Jesus.”  We cannot know how many women there were because, further on, Luke names “Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James and the others who accompanied them,” but what we do know is that they went together. Were they an improvised group, friends, or perhaps even a community? Whatever the case, they needed company to dare to go out early that Sunday morning.

We need to pause this Easter to ask the women why they went to the tomb. Perhaps the questions will stoke the fire of our hope. What encouraged you to go alone? How did you overcome the fear of the moment? Did you doubt the promise of Resurrection or go with hope in its certainty? How did you feel when you “remembered Jesus’s words”? How did you tell this story to one another afterward?

We need to be women of the dawn. Women who can overcome fear because they are accompanied, who dare to trust one another; women who go forth and move; women who remember Jesus’ words together; women who proclaim that Hope lives!

Happy Easter,

General Leadership Team