Last Maundy Thursday, I joined Visita Iglesia with Fr. Justin. Bro. Richard, Ate Caselyn and Ate Mera. It was my first time to do it. We started around 8:30 o’clock in the morning and we finished at 12:30 in the afternoon. We visited seven Churches and we were moving from parish to another by walking.
In all the seven churches we visited, I admired the participation of women in preparing the liturgy. In most of the parishes, they were busy preparing for the liturgical celebrations for Easter Triduum: flower arrangers, lectors and commentators, greeters and collectors, choirs and altar servers, etc. In our Visita Iglesia, I observed that parents, especially mothers, were the ones leading and teaching their family members to pray the rosary and the way of the cross.
Today’s Gospels calls our attention to the indispensable role of women in the unfolding of Jesus’ story about resurrection. We can say that the gospel of saint John emphasizes the role of women in the proclamation of the good news that Jesus Christ is risen from the Tomb. Mary Magdalen was the first woman to know and believe that Jesus Christ was resurrected. After learning the resurrection of Christ, she immediately went to Simon Peter and other disciples to proclaim the good news. Mary Magdalen is the first missionary, who was brave and courageous to proclaim the good news about Jesus’ resurrection.
In our life, who are the first women who give meaning to our Christian journey? Our parents, especially our mothers teach us how to pray when we are still kids. Most of us learned from them prayers like the Angel of God, Our Father, Hail Mary, Rosary and many other prayers that we continue to pray until now. Our parents are the source of inspiration to become good Catholics. As we can see, some of the servants in the Church are women. This shows that their parents patiently taught them to live not for themselves but for others and for our mother Church. On this, we can see how, like Mary Magdalen, women are missionaries in the Church. They are witnessing to the resurrection of Christ in many sectors of our lives.
Like Mary Magdalen, we are all invited to become missionaries in our daily life, starting from the person who is close to us. Mother Teresa once said “Love Begins at Home.” If we truly believe in Christ’s Resurrection, we must start loving our families. As Christians, we are called to become missionaries by living out what we believe.
