It is not uncommon for people to react in bewilderment upon hearing that I am enrolled in a Catholic theology graduate program. Their curiosity about my countercultural career choice is palpable: Why would you, as a young woman, commit to serving a Church that many berate as patriarchal and antithetical to women’s flourishing?

In some ways, I understand why people hold these views. We, as the Body of Christ, have not always valued women’s inherent dignity and leveraged women’s unique abilities, perspectives, and vision in bringing the kingdom of God to fruition. Yet, Scripture, like today’s gospel, reminds us that women have accompanied Christ and provided out of their own resources for the Church from the very beginning.

Two thousand years later, it’s easy for me to find women continuing to accompany, witness, proclaim, and provide out of their own resources to make the Church flourish. My friends dedicate hours after school to support their struggling students, initiate group Bible studies in their communities, spend extra time with their patients after difficult diagnoses, practice radical hospitality in their homes, and actively choose to trust in God when their career or family plans take unexpected turns. My two sisters sacrifice leisure time on the weekends to volunteer and my mom advocates for the rights of her elderly clients. The women of Walsh Hall, where I am blessed to serve as an Assistant Rector, serve at our dorm Masses, dedicate their breaks to social justice seminars, and relentlessly pursue vocational paths that promote the common good.

From Christ’s conception to the cross to the resurrection, women were there: keeping watch, taking action, pouring forth love from their hearts for the Lord and the early Christian community.

Today in the Church, women still are here, continuing to accompany and provide. Like Mary, called Magdalene, Joanna, and Susanna, their abiding witness of faith–lived out in every vocation and season of life–should not go unnoticed.