In today's first reading, Acts 9: 31-42, Peter is visiting Lydda and comes upon a paralyzed man, Aeneas, confined to bed for eight years. He says to him: "'Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed!' He got up at once. All the inhabitants of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord." A similar miracle happens when Peter is invited to Joppa, where a disciple of the Lord named Tabitha, a woman who was "completely occupied with good deeds and almsgiving," fell ill and died. When Peter arrives in Joppa he is taken to the place where Tabitha died. He enters her room where her body is and says to her: "Tabitha, rise up" and she "opened her eyes, saw Peter, and sat up. He gave her his hand and raised her up, and when he called the holy ones and the widows, he presented her alive. This became known all over Joppa, and many came to believe in the Lord."
WOW! Similar miracles happen, I believe, every day some place in the world. Suddenly, a dying person takes the turn for the better and survives a serious illness because of medical intervention (not unlike Peter's interventions). An aging grandparent or an ill parent or spouse or child recover from an illness that led to long-term hospitalizations or residencies in a nursing home--recoveries made possible by the compassionate care delivered day in and day out by medical personnel and the persistent prayers and love of family members!
Who, today, needs my faith, as Aeneas needed Peter's faith? Who, today, needs my encouragement and faith in Jesus as Tabitha needed Peter to say: "Tabitha, rise up?" Who, today, needs me to extend a helping hand, as Peter "gave his hand" to Tabitha, raising her up and presenting her to her loved ones?
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