Do the women in today’s gospel have any idea what lies ahead when they rush to tell the good news? The signs they have received are powerful, but the prophetic capacity of these signs is limited: An angel tells the women that Jesus is alive; the angel also shows them the place where the body lay. Though the women follow the instruction to “go quickly and tell his disciples,” how can they possibly know what’s next? They can’t! What they do know is that the body of Jesus, their beloved, is not in the tomb. So, propelled by joyful hope, they go.

As a Dominican novice, I think of my own story. Two years ago, I said yes to discernment with the Sisters of Saint Dominic of Caldwell. Sure, I had some idea of the plan for the next few years, but as I look back, I see how much I did not know! Like the women in the gospel, I could never have guessed what lay ahead—neither the joys (friendships formed…insights gained…blessings received) nor the struggles (arduous inner work…letting God’s light into my darkness…parking in St. Louis)!

Unlike the women running to tell the news to the disciples, I didn’t exactly rush into formation. I wouldn’t have given up the stability of my “old life” without careful, prayerful thought. Nor would my community have welcomed me hastily into such life-altering commitment. But ultimately, I did come. The mission beckoned: the call to preach God’s redeeming love to a beautiful, wounded world.

In today’s gospel, the women receive prompt proof that their own mission is valid: Jesus himself comes to them! He repeats what the angel has already said: “Do not be afraid.” Then, he duplicates something else: the angel’s instruction to send the disciples to Galilee.

The risen Christ knows that we, like the two women, sometimes need him to repeat the message—especially the part about not being afraid. Sometimes, too, we need him to affirm that our mission is valid. So, he comes. He comes to the women in the gospel, and he comes to us—in his Word, in a stranger or loved one, in a blue sky or sunrise. He greets, and he repeats. After all, his purpose is not to be original but to transform us through love and new life.