I can’t get these strong-yet-tender women out of my memory bank. They were there at nearly every door I entered this past week in the Holy Land:

The Sisters there at the Creche in Bethlehem, that touching home for abandoned little babies and children. “Here in Bethlehem we are close to scene of the birth of Jesus. Yet, every time we find a new baby on our steps, we consider it a new Christmas!”

Those religious women in East Jerusalem who daily welcome Palestinian children for care, lessons, love, and a meal as parents entrust their kids to them;

Those consecrated religious in Bethlehem at the Ephatha! Center, where little children with speech and hearing challenges come to learn how to communicate;

Those cloistered Carmelites and Benedictine nuns on the Mount of Olives who spend their days in prayer, penance, silence, and supplication, united with Jesus in His agony in the garden.

There is plenty to groan about in the Holy Land. All ask, “What’s the solution? What can we do?”

Well, these women don’t sit around talking and whining. These are the successors to our blessed Mother, to the Magdalen, to Martha and Mary of Bethany, to the holy women first at the empty tomb, who, like the Paschal candle at the vigil, are a fragile flame brightening darkness.