We are so sorry to bring the sad news that Mariellen Gilpin died on July 24, 2023. She was the heart and soul of What Canst Thou Say? (WCTS) for 20 years. WCTS is a Quaker mystical journal. For the next few weeks we will post Mariellen’s contributions, her writing published in WCTS, on this and our other WCTS blog <>. We don’t have her first contribution “Finding Spiritual Helpers” published in November, 1999, so we begin with the second and third: “Asking Jesus to Do the Praying” (August, 2000) and “A Gift of Tendering” (November, 2000).
Asking Jesus to Do the Praying (published WCTS August, 2000)
A few years ago I wanted to hold a friend and his estranged partner in prayer while they talked together one last time before separating. The interview was to take place at 8:30 in the evening, and I volunteered to hold both of them in prayer as long as it seemed I was needed. I prayed, “Jesus, I don’t know how or what to pray for them. I don’t know if I should pray for a continuation of the relationship or if it’s best for them to separate. Please. YOU tell me what to pray for.” Then I repeated the name of Jesus. I returned to the vision of a Light on their faces whenever my attention wandered.
Suddenly I found myself praying. “Help them listen each other into wholeness. I prayed with all my heart for a few minutes, and then in my mind’s eye I could see them listening to one another intently and openly. I prayed a few more minutes, and then simply knew my efforts were no longer needed. I stopped praying about 9:15, content. And indeed, when I saw my friend a few days later (you can bet I really was eager to hear) he told me that they did hear each other’s concerns in the relationship and separate with considerable affection and respect. They had, indeed, listened one another into incrrased wholeness. And the phrase listening into wholeness, has repeated irself since in my prayes for others.
Mariellen Gilpin is a member of Urbana-Champaign Meeting, IL. She celebrates the many ways God has helped her deal with mental illness.
What Canst Thou Say? 