May 24 + Saint Joanna the Holy Myrrhbearer

Joanna was the wife of Chuza, the steward of King Herod Antipas. After having received a grace or a healing from Jesus and having known His teachings by listening discreetly to His preaching, she tried to follow Him. She was then advised by Jesus not to do so but to stay at home and, through her words and behavior, help the evolution of the husband who had been trusted to her.

When her son was born, she dedicated her body and soul to his upbringing and moral education, with the same zeal and love she had for her husband. Following Jesus from a distance, as much as her occupation as a mother and dedicated wife would allow, she was one of the women who provided financial help to Jesus and His disciples.

After Jesus was buried, Joanna went along with Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James to the tomb with spices and ointments to wrap up the dead body of the Lord. Arriving there, they found the empty tomb, thus being able to testify the survival of the Spirit after the death of the body, as Jesus had taught them.

After her husband passed away, she had to work for other families to raise her son, something she did with dignity until she was old. During one of the many persecutions suffered by the early Christians, Joanna was imprisoned with her son and other followers of Jesus and taken to the circus in Rome. There she was sacrificed by being burnt on a stake together with her son and several other martyrs who refused to renounce their faith.

When the flames had already started to touch Joanna’s body, she serenely lived those painful moments with her mind focused on Jesus. Then she was interrogated by an executioner, who asked her: Has your Christ only taught you how to die? To what she placidly replied: Not only how to die, but also how to love you.

Under the tremendous emotional and mental dilemma of having to choose between keeping faithful to Jesus or betraying Him in order to save her life and that of her son, she found the strength to give victory to her mind and restrain her emotions. On that supreme moment she proved to have learned in the deepest of herself how to love even her executioners.