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| By Hans Memling |
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam
Memorial:
Saints Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn, Priest, and
Paul Chŏng Ha-sang, and Companions, Martyrs
Lectionary: 447
Lectionary: 447
The
Holy Women
[1] Soon afterward He (Jesus) went on through cities and
villages, preaching and bringing the Good News of the Kingdom of God. And the
Twelve were with Him, [2] and also some women who had been healed of evil
spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had
gone out, [3] and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and
many others, who provided for them out of their means.
Commentary:
1-3.
The Gospel refers a number of times to women accompanying our Lord. Here St.
Luke gives us the names of three of them – Mary, called Magdalene, to whom the
risen Christ appeared beside the Holy Sepulchre (John 20:11-18; Mark 16:9);
Joanna, a lady of some position, whom we also meet among the women who went to
the tomb on the morning of the Resurrection (Luke 24:10), and Susanna, whom the
Gospel does not mention again. The role of these women consisted in helping Jesus
and His disciples out of their own resources, thereby showing their gratitude
for what Christ had done for them, and in cooperating in His ministry.
Men and women enjoy equal dignity in the Church. Within the
context of that equality, women certainly have specific characteristics, which
must necessarily be reflected in their role in the Church: "All the
baptized, men and women alike, share equally in the dignity, freedom and
responsibility of the children of God.... Women are called to bring to the family,
to society and to the Church, characteristics which are their own and which
they alone can give – their gentle warmth and untiring generosity, their love
for detail, their quick-wittedness and intuition, their simple and deep piety,
their constancy.... A woman's femininity is genuine only if she is aware of the
beauty of this contribution for which there is no substitute – and if she
incorporates it into her own life" (St. J. Escriva, Conversations, 14 and 87).
The Gospel makes special reference to the generosity of
these women. It is nice to know that our Lord availed Himself of their charity,
and that they responded to Him with such refined and generous detachment that
Christian women feel filled with a holy and fruitful envy (cf. St. J. Escriva, The Way, 981).
Source:
The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries.
Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co.
Dublin, Ireland, and by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage
readers to purchase The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers
for details.
"Ignorance
of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." St Jerome
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