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About Mary Lee Wile

The Rev. Mary Lee Wile has served for over twenty years as a deacon in the Diocese of Maine. A retired high school teacher, her diaconal ministries have included pediatric hospice chaplaincy, prison ministry, spiritual direction, writing (including two children’s books for Forward Movement, two months of Forward Day by Day, and ongoing posts for Grow Christians), and co-facilitating Sacred Ground circles. She also delights in time spent with lively grandchildren.

A Window into Heaven – and Here

January 29, 2023 By Mary Lee Wile Leave a Comment

Some years ago I took a retreat among the brothers at the Society of St. John the Evangelist that focused on icons.

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Filed Under: Prayer, Saints Tagged With: art, icons, Prayer, SSJE

Walking through Advent toward the Light

December 14, 2022 By Mary Lee Wile

Back in the early ‘80’s, when I was still living in Colorado, on Good Friday mornings a friend and I would take the 4 to 5 a.m. Night Watch shift at church, then we’d drive out to Warren Lake.

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Filed Under: Liturgical Year Tagged With: Advent, grandchildren, politics

Love and serve…anyway.

September 22, 2022 By Mary Lee Wile Leave a Comment

On Friday mornings, on the corner of Pleasant and Union Streets in the heart of Brunswick, Maine, Nancy stands next to a picnic table the children of our congregation painted in vibrant colors.

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Filed Under: Saints Tagged With: deacon, hospitality, saints

Lifting up the lowly

May 31, 2022 By Mary Lee Wile 1 Comment

When I was a little girl, the closet in my bedroom had a back door. You pushed through clothes, unlatched a hook, and behind the door was a dark tunnel: a slanted crawl space that ran the length of the house.

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Filed Under: Liturgical Year, Prayer Tagged With: Elizabeth, magnificat, Mary, Prayer, Visitation

Come and worship….

December 25, 2021 By Mary Lee Wile Leave a Comment

Worship has been much on my mind recently, not necessarily the liturgy or the music or whether to be online or in person for Christmas services, but mostly I’ve been pondering the innate human need to worship, and its various manifestations.

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Filed Under: Liturgical Year Tagged With: Christmas, grandchildren, worship

Tabitha: Wrapping the Poor in Blessings

October 25, 2021 By Mary Lee Wile Leave a Comment

The idea of being wrapped up, especially as the nights grow colder here in Maine, evokes a sense of coziness and warmth.

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Filed Under: Saints Tagged With: crafts, Feast Days, patron saints, tabitha

Holy contradictions: commemorating Thomas Merton

December 10, 2020 By Mary Lee Wile 3 Comments

Back when my middle-aged sons were little boys, another young mom from church handed me a copy of Thomas Merton’s Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, […]

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Filed Under: Prayer, Saints Tagged With: cloud of witnesses, grandparenting, Merton, Prayer, retreat

Saint Simon and Saint Jude: Obscure Saints, Profound Wisdom

October 28, 2020 By Mary Lee Wile 2 Comments

I think we need a virtual army of intercessors, led by this patron saint of desperate causes, to help us through our own current “difficult time.”

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Filed Under: Prayer, Saints Tagged With: coronavirus, grandparenting, Prayer, St. Jude

Through a Glass, Darkly 

April 20, 2020 By Mary Lee Wile 6 Comments

I smile as the 4-year-old shows me Butterscotch, her much-loved bunny; Butterscotch proceeds to die two days later, and I cannot help or hold the child in her grief. 

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Filed Under: Easter Tagged With: coronavirus, Easter, grandchildren, grandparenting

Scratching in the Cat Box of My Mind

March 23, 2020 By Mary Lee Wile 14 Comments

Howard Thurman writes, “In the stillness of the quiet, if we listen, we can hear the whisper of the heart giving strength to weakness, courage to fear, hope to despair.”  

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Filed Under: Lent Tagged With: coronavirus, fear, grandchildren, grandparents, Howard Thurman, Prayer

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