In 1 Corinthians our scripture readings of today, reminds us thatSt Paul asks the Corinthians how they can say there is no resurrection of the dead? He says: “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain”. Christ is truly risen and we too will rise to new life in Christ. In our profession of faith, we proclaim a truth that we ‘believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting’.
In the Gospel, Jesus continues travelling and preaching the Gospel while accompanied by the twelve and several women. We see in Luke’s Gospel that, unlike the Rabbi of His times, Jesus has women as disciples. They are in fact, His most devoted followers. Luke tells us how faithful to Jesus these first Christian women are. The women disciples sympathized with Jesus and followed Him, weeping for Him as He carried His cross to execution (see Lk 23:27). Both Luke and John tell us of women who stood with Mary His Mother at the cross of Jesus and assisted in His burial. All four evangelists tell us that these women were the first to see the Risen Jesus on Easter Sunday morning and also announcing the disciples, that Jesus was Risen.
The women of today’s Gospel were cured of their infirmities. We follow their response to Jesus and their spiritual progress in the Gospel. From assisting Jesus out of their means, generously they go to share in the sufferings of Jesus’ sacrifice and so they share His glorious resurrection and become the first preachers of the Good News: “The Lord is Risen.”
We pray that what St Paul said to the Galatians, may truly be fulfilled in each one of us. He said: “There is no longer slave or free, male or female; we are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28).