What is most important to you about Tabitha’s story? Who are the women who have ministered to you? What is their ministry? What positive impact have they had on your life? How have you, as a woman, discovered your authority as a minister? What ways of helping others make you come alive?

What is most striking to you about this story of Jesus and Peter? What causes disconnection? What facilitates reconnection? How do you repair a relationship? What qualities or virtues are needed and what actions or commitments are required?

Rachel Wheeler teaches at the University of Portland. She is the author of the books, Desert Daughters, Desert Sons: Rethinking the Christian Desert Tradition (Liturgical Press, 2020) and Ecospirituality: An Introduction (Fortress Press, 2022). She is a member of Saint Andrew Catholic Church, a vegan, and enjoys knitting.

Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”…

“Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, order your disciples to stop.’ He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.’”

Where do I most see myself in this story, today? What is most striking to me about the people in this story? How do I see Love in this story?

What do you notice about the way Jesus interacted with people of different cultures? How has your experience of another culture taught you more about God’s love? How could you make yourself more available to relationships with people from different cultures? What does it mean to truly welcome a stranger? What is required of us to welcome strangers?