A medieval mystic names Mary Magdalene as the model contemplative, shifting faith from guilt and story into surrendered love in the cloud of unknowing.
This is one of your most profound and, ultimately, practical reflections. I sense that it may providentially offer a way forward for a directee whose condition is emerging as increasingly complex. This may be the insight I’ve been praying for. Thank you, blessed is the Spirit at work in you.
As always beautifully framed. Languished more for lack of love, yes. That is the wound beneath all wounds. Not sin, but the sense that love is not flowing. And the remedy is not self-examination, but surrender.
The teaching here resonates with what the Upanishads also say: desire is not the problem. Forgetting how to offer it is.
This is lovely! I am coming to think of Mary's love as a mirroring of Christ's kenosis on the cross, each of them offering an outpouring of love to each other and the world. And such a helpful way to reframe the offering on the cross itself, as the consequence of love rather than a payment for sin.
`what a blessing to read these so intimate, so personal, so relatable, so real words about a woman who I can relate to, revere & simply love all wrapped up in the same but different glowing ball of loving energy. I was deprived - that seems harsh but in so many ways pulses true - of Mary my whole life - she was the one “detail” left out & now that “detail” is the beating heart of what happened. The CLoud is so real & relatable & I am grateful you shared these words & she said “yes” tonite when I asked her if I should read it tonite or in the morning. My dreams will be winding thru blessed different territory than they would have had I not listened to her guidance. Wrapping me in fertile truth & love like a precious child floating with dream clouds 🛌☁️🌗
(Please me if there’s a more appropriate space to ask this question. I thought I knew your email address, but it failed to send.)
Could you help me understand the reference numbers you use?
For instance, from Day Three, Evening:
Lectio Mary 9:2
“I saw you. You did not see me.”
This quotation spoke to me yesterday, woke me up to remembering how Mary Magdalene first made herself known to me in a Dream. April 2025?
I’ve been listening to her ever since, by way of you, and now as I have begun reading her Gospel with commentary by Jean-Yves Leloup.
I went to LeLoup in search of finding your reference numbers: “9.2”
I could not find your citation. MM (or some Heavenly Guardian Angel) took my scanning eyes to LeLoup, p. 33:
He refers to [Page 15] 6, 7: where I found
“6 ‘I saw you,
7 though you did not see me,”
I laughed mightily because I was clearly meant to see this quotation…it spoke to me, as if to say: “Dear Sandy, this is for you today. You now have ears to hear.”
Then my analytical self jumped in…and asked: “if I want to track down other quotations from both Mary Magdalene and Thomas in “Whispers…”, what Resource did you use?”
I like to follow-up by reading the larger context from which the short quotes are taken. (I find many footnotes are worthy of leading me deeper into my inquiry.)
Thank you for anything you can share. My “discovery” of Mary Magdalene is a miracle for me. How she reframes so much teaching from “either/or” thinking, to “both/and,” and other reframes, gives me an infusion of new life, and deepens my faith to keep seeking one day at a time, the path I’m meant to be on, going forward. The passing over of my husband 15 months ago swept me into a new space of knowing, such that my perspective of the eternal world, and me in it, is forever changed. Mary Magdalene and you have gifted me not only with the deep grieving, but right alongside the ache of the hole in my being, you have led me into the most incredible JOY I have ever known.
Thank you for all you are doing
I remain a faithful and grateful Anam Cara.
Sandra Sell-Lee
❤️🙏❤️😎🐶
"Seek with the Soul...See with the Heart"
“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” - Anatole France
"Peace is not merely absence of violence,
it is the presence of justice." -Corey Booker
“Gratitude turns what we have into enough”
-Aesop
“…there’s more going on than meets the eye “ - Bill Sell-Lee
This is one of your most profound and, ultimately, practical reflections. I sense that it may providentially offer a way forward for a directee whose condition is emerging as increasingly complex. This may be the insight I’ve been praying for. Thank you, blessed is the Spirit at work in you.
As always beautifully framed. Languished more for lack of love, yes. That is the wound beneath all wounds. Not sin, but the sense that love is not flowing. And the remedy is not self-examination, but surrender.
The teaching here resonates with what the Upanishads also say: desire is not the problem. Forgetting how to offer it is.
🙏🙏
Oh, that teaching about desire - that’s going up on the wall of daily readings. ❤️
🙏🙏
Thank you for this!
I want to love like this. The Cloud of Unknowing sounds like a book I need to read. Thank you for sharing these words.
This is lovely! I am coming to think of Mary's love as a mirroring of Christ's kenosis on the cross, each of them offering an outpouring of love to each other and the world. And such a helpful way to reframe the offering on the cross itself, as the consequence of love rather than a payment for sin.
" If love is released from the need to control outcomes through thought or emotion, it discovers a deeper mode of knowing."
This is so enlightening! Thank you!
`what a blessing to read these so intimate, so personal, so relatable, so real words about a woman who I can relate to, revere & simply love all wrapped up in the same but different glowing ball of loving energy. I was deprived - that seems harsh but in so many ways pulses true - of Mary my whole life - she was the one “detail” left out & now that “detail” is the beating heart of what happened. The CLoud is so real & relatable & I am grateful you shared these words & she said “yes” tonite when I asked her if I should read it tonite or in the morning. My dreams will be winding thru blessed different territory than they would have had I not listened to her guidance. Wrapping me in fertile truth & love like a precious child floating with dream clouds 🛌☁️🌗
Simply Beautiful.
VMB,
RE: “Whispers from the Silence”
(Please me if there’s a more appropriate space to ask this question. I thought I knew your email address, but it failed to send.)
Could you help me understand the reference numbers you use?
For instance, from Day Three, Evening:
Lectio Mary 9:2
“I saw you. You did not see me.”
This quotation spoke to me yesterday, woke me up to remembering how Mary Magdalene first made herself known to me in a Dream. April 2025?
I’ve been listening to her ever since, by way of you, and now as I have begun reading her Gospel with commentary by Jean-Yves Leloup.
I went to LeLoup in search of finding your reference numbers: “9.2”
I could not find your citation. MM (or some Heavenly Guardian Angel) took my scanning eyes to LeLoup, p. 33:
He refers to [Page 15] 6, 7: where I found
“6 ‘I saw you,
7 though you did not see me,”
I laughed mightily because I was clearly meant to see this quotation…it spoke to me, as if to say: “Dear Sandy, this is for you today. You now have ears to hear.”
Then my analytical self jumped in…and asked: “if I want to track down other quotations from both Mary Magdalene and Thomas in “Whispers…”, what Resource did you use?”
I like to follow-up by reading the larger context from which the short quotes are taken. (I find many footnotes are worthy of leading me deeper into my inquiry.)
Thank you for anything you can share. My “discovery” of Mary Magdalene is a miracle for me. How she reframes so much teaching from “either/or” thinking, to “both/and,” and other reframes, gives me an infusion of new life, and deepens my faith to keep seeking one day at a time, the path I’m meant to be on, going forward. The passing over of my husband 15 months ago swept me into a new space of knowing, such that my perspective of the eternal world, and me in it, is forever changed. Mary Magdalene and you have gifted me not only with the deep grieving, but right alongside the ache of the hole in my being, you have led me into the most incredible JOY I have ever known.
Thank you for all you are doing
I remain a faithful and grateful Anam Cara.
Sandra Sell-Lee
❤️🙏❤️😎🐶
"Seek with the Soul...See with the Heart"
“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” - Anatole France
"Peace is not merely absence of violence,
it is the presence of justice." -Corey Booker
“Gratitude turns what we have into enough”
-Aesop
“…there’s more going on than meets the eye “ - Bill Sell-Lee
“I don’t know.
I can’t know.
I don’t need to know.” - John Prendergast
Sent from my iPad
Altarcito popped up. I thought of you.
(Paper, burnished beeswax)
This reminds me that love doesn’t need to understand everything to stay. Sometimes staying is the whole path.