That word “Spiritual” is an interesting word in today’s culture. I cannot tell you how many times I have had a conversation with someone, and when I ask them what Church they go to, I sometimes get this response: “Oh, I don’t go to Church…but I am pretty spiritual.”  While I typically just smile and nod my head, what I really should be doing is to putting my arm around them and saying“My beloved…I don’t think you know what that word means…”

“…Sometimes He (Christ) may seem too far off, hidden by the clouds of uncertainty and despair, to ever be able to provide that direction and guidance that we need and depend on.  But just as the strangers said to the disciples on the day of the Lord’s Ascension, we need to get our head out of the clouds and beginning focusing on the mission that Christ has chosen us to do.”

…I often have played this scenario out in my head, about what we would do if these acts of violence were ever brought to our little Church in the woods, and I would hope that after the dust and shock had settled, we would give thanks and glory to God for the assurance that not only are we on the right path…but the devil is starting to get desperate!

We all have our off days, and it is so easy for us to let those off days become the routine…to allow that broken wheel to continue to spin, causing us to fall even farther away from the love of God. This is why regular participation in the mystery of confession is so vital to us as Christians!  It is a re-set button…a release from the routine of sin, and the beginning of the path back to the Life-Giving Streams which our Lord spoke about with St. Photini! 

St. Tabitha is a reminder to us all that true beauty doesn’t come from how we look or what type of worldly stature and power that we have, it comes from the way that we live our lives.  True beauty is defined by the works that we do, by the faith that we have, and by the love that we show for God and for others.