Quran (61:14)

โอ้บรรดาผู้ศรัทธาเอ๋ย ! จงเป็นผู้ช่วยเหลือในทางของอัลลอฮฺ ดังเช่น อีซา อิบนฺมัรยัมได้กล่าวแก่บรรดาสาวกว่า ผู้ใดจะเป็นผู้ช่วยเหลือฉันไปยังอัลลอฮฺบ้าง?

O credenti, siate gli ausiliari di Allah, così come Gesù figlio di Maria chiedeva agli apostoli: «Chi sono i miei ausiliari [nella causa di] Allah?».

Ey iman edenler! Allah'ın yardımcıları olun. Meryem oğlu İsa’nın Havariler'e dediği gibi: "Allah (yolunda) yardımcılarım kimdir?"

O mga sumampalataya, maging mga tagapag-adya ni Allāh kayo gaya ng sinabi ni Jesus na anak ni Maria sa mga disipulo niya: "Sino ang mga tagapag-adya ko kay Allāh?"

О те, которые уверовали! Будьте помощниками Аллаха. Иса (Иисус), сын Марьям (Марии), сказал апостолам: «Кто будет моим помощником на пути к Аллаху?»

¡Creyentes! Sed los auxiliares de Alá como cuando Jesús, hijo de María, dijo a los apóstoles: «¿Quiénes son mis auxiliares en la vía que lleva a Alá?»

I was so super nervous but I did it and I had such a good time.

Like, I had felt bad cause the garden is a community thing where everyone pitches in to help each other and I don't really have enough stamina to even do everything necessary for my own plot, much less help other people

But then literally everyone was like

"Do you want some help?"

"I'll make sure to water/weed your plot if you like when I do mine in a few days"

"I have some extra potatoes and onions, would you want to plant some?"

"Did you want some help planting those potatoes and onions?"

And like, when I admitted to the lady in charge that I didn't have much physical stamina, her attitude was all "ah, WE have a problem then. Let's see what I/the group can do to help"

Literally at one point, this one lady was helping me plant the onions and I was like,

"Sorry, I'm kinda bad at asking for help"

and she was just like, "Don't worry about it! That's what a church is for, right? To help each other whenever someone needs it" as if it was the most obvious/automatic thing in the world

Which like, in my head, is what a church SHOULD be like, but not at all what I was used to from the church I grew up in.

Y'all.

During the last supper, Jesus promised to the disciples a paraclete, and after his resurrection, the Book of Acts recounts that Jesus appeared to the disciples and told them to remain in the city of Jerusalem. And it was during the celebration of Pentecost when the disciples were all gathered together that this spiritual paraclete manifested himself to them in tongues of fire that descended upon each of them. The disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit and finally understood Jesus' promise: "For everyone will be tested with fire" Mark 9:49. The disciples had received a new birth, not in the flesh but in the spirit, with the gifts of wisdom, understanding, and spiritual discernment. And the Book of Acts continues its account and says that this descent of wisdom caused a great commotion, so many curious people, including pious Jews from other nations, approached the place, and the disciples, rejoicing at the miracle, spoke to them in different languages. And so the apostle Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, took the lead and gave his first speech to the crowd gathered there, speaking of Jesus with these words: "This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it" Acts 2:23-24. The Book of Acts concludes the account of Peter's speech by saying that many believed and were baptized. With this event, the Church was born, and Peter symbolized the power of his preaching; the disciples took courage, and a new era began for the followers of Jesus.

The Kingdom of God is not only the path to eternal life (contemplative life, John 17:3) or Gnosis through the path of mercy (compassion, kindness) and piety, it is also the action and power of the holy spirit in the church, the communion of the believers. And this is the teaching that Peter, the leader of the early church, gives to us when he revives Tabitha, in the likeness of his master Jesus who revived Lazarus, the daughter of Jairus and the son of the widow of Nain. The miracle that the apostle Peter performs on Tabitha is a foretaste of what will happen at the end of time with the second coming and the consummation of the eschatological hope, the resurrection of the righteous for the eternal life. This story from the Bible also reminds us of the importance of prayer and that trusting faith in our Lord Jesus to perform signs and great miracles: "In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor. About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, ´Please come at once!´ Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them. Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, ´Tabitha, get up.´She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called for the believers, especially the widows, and presented her to them alive." Acts 9:36-43.