Entries by Mary Pandiani

Living in the Paschal Mystery: Leading to Ascension

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[This message was given at Kairos: Friday Morning Contemplative Gathering on April 29, 2022] From Mary Pandiani, Selah Executive Director Easter has come and gone for many. And yet, looking at the church liturgical calendar, we’re still in Eastertide, namely the 40-days before the Ascension of Christ Jesus takes place. These 40-days and Ascension are […]

Hosanna

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  I will wave palm branches today. Yes, I know they will be burned tomorrow; I know my praise will turn to betrayal. My hope will vanish into terror. I know my passion for justice will be swallowed by my lust for safety. I know. But I dare to trust my fickleness will be redeemed, […]

Blessed are You, Oh Lord Our God, Who Heals Us with Forgiveness

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With a healed and happy heart, we proclaim our thanksgiving to You, God of Compassion and Great Kindness. We rejoice in Your absolution of our failings and in the fact that You call us to forgive each other daily with the sacrament of understanding, for in that mutual forgiveness, we experience Your divine grace. We […]

I Call You Friend

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Sirach is right.  Absolutely right.  A faithful friend is a “sturdy shelter.”  A faithful friend is a “life-saving remedy.”A faithful friend is “beyond price.”  And so, my friend, I say to you today: I call you friend.  For you are home to me.  Within the shelter of your good company, I safely lay my burdens […]

O Incomprehensible One

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O Incomprehensible One, you have taken the sharp knife of this life and hollowed me out. Scraped my insides. Everything taken. Scoured. Empty. You have punched holes in me in painful places. Helpless. The wind blows through me. And what is this? Flute music!              -Steve Garnaas-Holmes Ah, flute music. […]

Embodied

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The Word was God And EVERYTHING was created Through Him. He chose to become embodied, as fertilized egg, embryo, and baby, To limit Himself And know what it means to be human. Human like you and me. Bodies precious as He formed male and female and declared them very good. A body, a person as […]

A Light Hold

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  Strangely after years of more clutching, grasping, weaving, planting – more insisting all remains – blew a gentle breeze inviting something else for tired hands: A light hold. Ego’s habits railed and thrust persistent drives and cloudy ruse, surroundings also reinforced resisting change, remaining closed – and yet my heart pulsed life, real life, […]

Catch Me in My Scurrying

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Catch me in my anxious scurrying, Lord, and hold me in this Lenten season: hold my feet to the fire of your grace and make me attentive to my mortality that I may begin to die now to those things that keep me from living with you and with my neighbors on this earth; to […]

Let Your God Love You

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Be silent. Be still. Alone.  Empty Before your God Say nothing. Ask nothing. Be silent. Be still. Let your God Look upon you. That is all. He knows. He understands. He loves you with an enormous love. He only wants to Look upon you With His Love. Quiet Still. Be. Let your God – Love […]

Bless, O God, the Ordinary

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“My tattered, non-descript, black purse that holds a hundred snapshots Of days and weeks gone by- Of coffees lingered over with friends, The book that cried out to be purchased, Snacks half-eaten, Mine or the kids? Scraps of notes from the pulpit, Mountains of change, Clanging together like a bad symphony“ Bless, O God, the […]

Hand Over

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Eternal Love, May my pointing hands refrain from forging dark divides and seek instead to guide along the potent paths of Love. May my drooping hands retell of efforts sown and pauses reaped, of wholeness sought and second buddings eager to appear. May my wringing hands be still and simply fold in rest, releasing outcomes, […]

Morning Walk

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The darkness surrounded I turned on my little light A few steps forward, then Poof! Battery dead Darkness came close But then light came through! A movement of trees above And moonlight revealed shadows All at once unafraid No lamp necessary The shadows just enough. We walked on Shadows our companions Then the sun began […]