The Gospel for the Easter Vigil Mark 16: 1-7

‘Who will come and share my sorrow?' is the first line of a Liam Lawton song, very applicable to Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of James and Salome, who shared the sorrow of Jesus as he hung upon the cross. They were the women who stayed by the Cross. They were also the women who acted, driven by compassion to go very early in the morning, just after sunrise to anoint his body as it lay in the garden tomb. They were the women who faced their problems squarely, realising that they would not have the necessary strength to roll back the tombstone.

And then, on entering the tomb, amazed that the stone had been rolled away, they were the women called by the young man in a white robe, to be the first missionaries of the Resurrection. “go and tell his disciples and Peter: Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee.” They were women of faith, believing in those startling words “you will see him there just as he told you.”

O Easter Sunday women, the first of the disciples to experience Easter, help us to be :

Women who share sorrow…

Women who stay by the cross of others…

Women who act out of conviction …

Women of courage and imagination…

Women missionaries of the Good News…

Women of faith…

JUBILEE WOMEN ! DOMINICAN WOMEN!