“She was completely occupied with good deeds and almsgiving.” Acts 9:36
Today it was the First Reading (from the Acts of the Apostles) that captured my attention. “Now, in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which is translated Dorcas). She was completely occupied with good deeds and almsgiving.”
God bless Tabitha! I am sorry that it took her illness and “death” to secure her mention in Scripture. I am grateful to the evangelist Luke and his soft spot for the female disciples beginning with Jesus’ mother Mary. He tells us that the friends of Tabitha pleaded with Peter to “come without delay.” In a quiet space, alone with Tabitha whose body had been laid out in death, he coaxed her: “Tabitha, rise up.” At Peter’s urging Tabitha heard the voice of her Savior. She “opened her eyes, saw Peter and sat up.”
We awaken each day to the gift of a new tomorrow. We ask in the words of the Responsorial Psalm: “How can I make a return to the Lord for all the good He had done for me?”
I pray: may my waking thoughts be those of the next lines of the psalm: “I am your servant; the child of your handmaid. The cup of salvation I will take up, and I will call upon the name of the Lord.” Thus may it be said of each of us: “She was completely occupied with good deeds and almsgiving.”
Today’s Reflection is by:
Sister Roberta Bailey
Did you know...
Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB, is currently the prioress (president) of the Benedictine Sisters of Florida in Saint Leo. Sister serves on the diocesan Commission for Religious. She is the former principal of St. Anthony Catholic School in San Antonio, Florida, and Saint John Paul II Catholic School in Lecanto, Florida. Sister Roberta is celebrating her 61st year in religious life.
