Beckoning: A Novel

She inserts herself into the biblical stories she reads, as taught by Saint Ignatius of Loyola. Through this process, she "time travels" to first-century Jerusalem as Tabitha Longinus, the daughter of centurion Gaius Cassius Longinus, who pierces the side of the crucified Jesus, receives spontaneous healing, and undergoes immediate conversion. Tabitha is a Gentile with Jewish friends and a mother who refuses to accept her husband's newfound (and dangerous) faith.

When Tabitha's mother flees to Rome and her father retires from the army and leaves Jerusalem, she is left alone in the holy city, her life in jeopardy for having entered a section of the Temple that is forbidden to Gentiles. She is drawn to Jesus by friends who are close to the Apostles, even as she struggles to find a way to save and reunite her family — a duty that consumes her in her modern life as well.

Tabitha's experiences are based on the events described in the first ten chapters of the Acts of the Apostles. Tabby emerges from Adoration on the last of several days of her Scripture meditations with a newfound faith and clarity about how her family can be reunited and healed, all with the Lord's help.