The idea of dying can send many into having panic attacks. Why? Because we have never experienced it for ourselves and so have many unanswered questions. Such as, is it really the end? Do we disappear into nothingness? All memories of our existence gone forever? What will happen to our loved ones? Therefore the idea of death alone pains us.
We Christians have the answer and it lies in the truth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. For indeed by His resurrection Christ has redeemed the world from eternal death. Through our faith in our resurrected Lord we have hope for eternal life with Him. So together with St Paul and with conviction we declare “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” and like the Saints who have gone ahead we too can die with peace and joy in our hearts in knowing we will rise again with Him.
Today we pause, reflect and remember the many women who have walked and those who are still walking in the presence of our Lord. Whose dedication to follow in His footsteps by their own lives have inspired us to do likewise. I have been blessed to know such women in my life including my own mother.
Blessed Mother Queen of Heaven we consecrate all these women after your own heart through you, to Your Son Jesus our Lord. Amen
First reading
1 Corinthians 15:12-20 ·
If Christ has not been raised, your belief is useless
Now if Christ raised from the dead is what has been preached, how can some of you be saying that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, Christ himself cannot have been raised, and if Christ has not been raised then our preaching is useless and your believing it is useless; indeed, we are shown up as witnesses who have committed perjury before God, because we swore in evidence before God that he had raised Christ to life. For if the dead are not raised, Christ has not been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, you are still in your sins. And what is more serious, all who have died in Christ have perished. If our hope in Christ has been for this life only, we are the most unfortunate of all people.
But Christ has in fact been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of all who have fallen asleep.
Gospel
Luke 8:1-3
The women who accompanied Jesus
Jesus made his way through towns and villages preaching, and proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom of God. With him went the Twelve, as well as certain women who had been cured of evil spirits and ailments: Mary surnamed the Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and several others who provided for them out of their own resources.
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