“Tabitha, Rise Up” by Melanie Rigney

“Tabitha, Rise Up” by Melanie Rigney

Saturday of the Third Week of Easter 

Now in Joppa, there was a disciple named Tabitha (which translated means Dorcas). She was completely occupied with good deeds and almsgiving. Now during those days, she fell sick and died, so after washing her, they laid [her] out in a room upstairs. Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him with the request, “Please come to us without delay.” So Peter got up and went with them. When he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs where all the widows came to him weeping and showing him the tunics and cloaks that Dorcas had made while she was with them. Peter sent them all out and knelt down and prayed. Then he turned to her body and said, “Tabitha, rise up.” She opened her eyes, saw Peter, and sat up. He gave her his hand and raised her up, and when he had called the holy ones and the widows, he presented her alive. (Acts 9:36-41)

How shall I make a return to the Lord for all the good he has done for me? (Psalm 116:12) 

Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”  (John 6:67-69)

Piety

Jesus, may I remember that any good work I attempt comes through You, and You will determine the success of that work. 

Study

Peter had been there the day Jesus raised the synagogue leader’s dead daughter, taking her hand and saying, “Talitha koum!” (Little girl, I say to you, get up!”)

He had had his doubts at times before the Resurrection, doubts about himself. But after that post-Resurrection day when Jesus asked him to feed the Lord’s sheep, there was no stopping Peter. 

It is not lost on us as Christians, the beautiful parallels of Peter’s own miracle in today’s Gospel. After praying, he said, “Tabitha, rise up.” And the disciple did. Peter didn’t stop and wonder about how to do this, about his powers. In prayer, he made himself a tool of the Lord.

We have our doubts as well; days we wonder why and how God loves us, what precisely our charism is and how to live it. Our abilities seem small. And yet, with prayer and faith, we too have the opportunity to raise people from spiritual, emotional, or mental death. We have the power Jesus conferred on us to go forth and make disciples of all nations, with a compassionate word, a listening ear, a kind action. With the Lord’s help, we, too, can restore people to life. 

Action

Help someone rise up today.

 

Image Credit: Jacob Jordaens https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dorcas_Raised_From_the_Dead_by_Saint_Peter_MET_SF-1975-1-835.jpg

 

Have Life because of Jesus By Beth DeCristofaro

Have Life because of Jesus By Beth DeCristofaro

 

So Ananias went and entered the house; laying his hands on him, he said,
“Saul, my brother, the Lord has sent me, Jesus who appeared to you on the way by which you came, that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”  Immediately things like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight.  He got up and was baptized, and when he had eaten, he recovered his strength. (Acts 9:17-19)

 

For steadfast is his kindness toward us,
    and the fidelity of the LORD endures forever.
R. Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.  (Psalm117:2)

 

Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,
whoever eats this bread will live forever.”  (John 6:57-58)

 

Piety

Jesus, give me each day yourself, bread of life nourishing me in days of doubt or drought.  Help me to spill your love over and out to others, sharing your sustenance.

 

Study

It seems fitting to Earth Day this week as we read from John’s Gospel.  The splendors of the earth seem to be Spring preening, and we are reminded of our duties as earth’s stewards to take care of her.  These responsibilities come because we are children of the same God who created such marvels.  God is loyal to creation, glowworm, and sinning humans alike to the point of choosing to walk, feeding, healing and teaching, among us. An extraordinary juxtaposition of miracles!

 

Did the Creator create all these things so beautiful, or did the Creator give us the ability to see beauty?  Yes, to both.  We long for beauty that brings us to a place of gratitude and marvel because God is at its root.  We long for the love which created beauty, but we can be diverted by beauty misunderstood and incomplete.  We do not worship nature but we worship the divinity which is partially revealed in it.  And the greatest of those revelations is in Jesus, bread of life.

 

Action

Catherine de Heuck Doherty said “You, like Christ, must incarnate yourself … into the streams of day-by-day life of people who live in the world … What does it matter if you think you are a sinner?  Take it for granted.  You are.  So am I.  So are we all.  But don’t bother about it.  Do not impede his grace in your soul by dwelling on your poverty.  We are all paupers of this kind … all sinner.  Dwell instead on the incomprehensible mystery of his choice of you.”^[i]   

 

The mystery of the bread of life incarnated through me!  A beauty beyond comprehension!  How do I allow Christ to incarnate in me? Give thanks and ask for his grace to be more open, more courageous like Ananias and Paul to spread his beauty and love.

 

 

 

Illustrations:

Glowworm Cave -Waitomo, New Zealand, https://www.mapquest.com/travel/12-amazing-caves-you-have-to-visit/,

Leafy seadragon, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leafy_seadragon

https://www.aao.org/eye-health/tips-prevention/baby-vision-development-first-year

https://www.kidsnews.com.au/space/nasa-space-inventions-for-everyday-earthlings/news-story/af5f03ff1a52f296bb2f9b08529e864d

 

---

[i] “Grace in Every Season”, Catherine de Hueck Doherty, as quoted in “Give us this Day:Daily prayer for Today’s Cahotlic, ” Liturgical Press.

“The Signs and Scars of Faith” By Colleen O’Sullivan

“The Signs and Scars of Faith” By Colleen O’Sullivan

Tuesday of the Third Week of Easter 

Gabriel-Jules Thomas, The Stoning of St. Stephen, 1863, Saint-Etienne du Mont, Paris, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

 

But Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and Stephen said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” They threw (Stephen) out of the city and began to stone him. The witnesses laid down their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul. As they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he fell to his knees and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them,”; and when he said this, he fell asleep. Now Saul was consenting to his execution. (Acts 7:55-56, 58-8:1a)

 

Into your hands, I commend my spirit; you will redeem me, O LORD, O faithful God. My trust is in the LORD; I will rejoice and be glad of your mercy. (Psalm 7:6, 7b, 8a) 

Piety

O Lord, grant us the courage of St. Stephen in proclaiming our faith.

Study

Before today’s first reading, Stephen, a deacon in the early church, spoke before the Sanhedrin. I’m surprised the members of the Sanhedrin listen as long as they do before they attacked him. Stephen talks about earlier times in the history of the Jews and reminds them of the many prophets God sent over the centuries to speak truth to the people of Israel. Did they listen to what the prophets said? No, they killed them. Even back then, Stephen says, your bodies may have borne the mark of the faith, but your hearts certainly did not. Now, this deacon tells them they have executed the greatest prophet of all, Jesus. 

Stephen is unfazed by the growing anger on their faces. At that very moment, he looks up to heaven and says he sees the Son of Man standing at the Father’s right hand. It is as if they stand ready to welcome Stephen into heaven. The members of the Sanhedrin have had enough of Stephen’s preaching. What blasphemy to refer to that miserable wretch they put to death on the Cross with a Messianic title!

The Jews whom he addressed are more than ready for some bloodletting. With Saul’s consent, they stone Stephen to death, and he becomes the first Christian martyr. As Stephen saw in his vision, Jesus and the Father were waiting with open arms to embrace him and receive him into heaven.

Two Sundays ago, our Gospel reading was about Thomas seeing the Risen Lord for the first time. The homily I heard that day depicted Thomas and his intentions in a very different light from how I had ever seen them before. Thomas was the only one of the disciples willing to question Jesus during his farewell discourse. He spoke for all the disciples when he stated they didn’t know where Jesus was going or the way to get there. Jesus’ reply was an enigmatic “You know the way to the place where I am going.” Perhaps on Good Friday, Thomas realized that the Cross was the way to resurrection. If Thomas had seen no sign of the wounds on Jesus’ body, he would have found it difficult to believe that this was indeed his friend and Lord. But Jesus showed him the wounds where the nails went in and the place where the soldier’s sword pierced his side. 

I would imagine that when he entered heaven, Stephen likewise wore the visible bloody scars where each of those stones found their mark.

Action

Suffering leaves its marks on us. All around the world, in the past year, people have lost loved ones to COVID-19. Churches lost priests. Patients died without the comforting presence of family. Some survivors still endure long-term health issues. Men and women lost jobs. The pandemic forced businesses to close. Families that remain are hungry. I am confident that eventually, things will get better. And I am equally confident we will never be the same again. Even those who never got sick and never missed a paycheck will bear the effects of having spent at least a year in relative isolation from others. 

Whether from the pandemic or anything else, the scars we bear can be a source of bitterness, or they can become the means to greater compassion for others’ suffering. St. Stephen responded to the blows from the stones by praying for forgiveness for his attackers.

How have your life experiences marked you? What have you done with those wounds? When you pray today, talk to Jesus about this.

 

Image credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?search=Stoning+of+St.+Stephen%2C+St.+Etienne+du+Mont&title=Special:MediaSearch&go=Go&type=image