Lenten Whispers

You who eat to gladden your gut,
You who indulge to comfort the flesh,
Come to a true banquet!

Rejoice your spirit,
Give joy to your soul.
Fatten your prayer on faith.

Let words ravish the Heart of God.
Even words unspoken, but burning in your heart,
Call angels to your side.

Quiet the world, by stepping apart,
Still your flesh in earnest fast,
Widen the breath of your praise.

The majesty of God inclines to your lips,
For it is He, Who has promised.
Whisper and He smiles.

Copyright Joann Nelander © 2011   All rights reserved.

One Shot Wednesday – Week 39

One Shot Wednesday – Time again to read and write.  Let the fun begin!

Here’s my one shot:

Cry of the Heart

Lord, do others speak to You in whole sentences?
My prayer is like me in my raw and bewildered state,
Mind and feelings at war within me,
Straining to understand, to comprehend myself,
And wondering what You desire,
Still in a quandary to know what to pray;
Indeed, how to pray.

All I know is that You, O Lord, are.
Though I seem alone,
You are with me,
Your Holy Name, my byword.
My prayer is Your Name,
Now echoing in the Father’s ear.
I do not call it back.

My cry, my prayer,
Shall resound through eternity,
And on its strains
I hold fast.
I wait, I rest, and I adore.
Let me sleep the peace of angels,
Safe in Your sure embrace.

Copyright © 2011 Joann Nelander   All rights reserved.

Standing invitation to visit One Stop Poetry- Where Poets, Writers and Artists Meet.

It will cheer you, lift your spirits, brighten your mood. It goes a long way in stealing you away from the ho-hum humdrum. There is so much talent on display.

Empowered

It is not my prayer.
It is our prayer.
I pray with the Church.
I am one among all,
All Yours,
All giving voice
To the Church Militant,

Called by Your Name,
HaShem, the Name!

Empowered by the Name,
HaShem, the Name.

Copyright Joann Nelander © 2011 All rights reserved

Cleaning Up Your Act

I can only clean up your dirt,
If you give it to me.
Is it pride that stands in your way?
Think, then, of the filth in which you wallow.

Being prostrate in repentance,
Is in reality a rising,
A lifting of your head,
A step up, my man!

Really now, how proud can a man be,
Who is chained to his sin,
A slave in bondage to habit,
Following the crowd?

Mire and muck,
What trappings are these,
But for a prince of fools?
Fall on your knees to stand up!

Copyright Joann Nelander © 2011 All rights reserved

Sunday Snippets — A Catholic Carnival

RAnn of  This,That and the Other Thing hosts Sunday Snippets — A Catholic Carnival

Join us or just check out our posts.  This is a great way to share your posts from the past week.

Here are my snippets from the week:

Solemnity of the Annunciation of Our Lord

No Empty Dream

Poetry Potluck – Week 27 – The Price

The Mystery of Man’s Reconciliation With God

From a letter by Saint Leo the Great, pope:

Lowliness is assured by majesty, weakness by power, mortality by eternity. To pay the debt of our sinful state, a nature that was incapable of suffering was joined to one that could suffer. Thus, in keeping with the healing that we needed, one and the same mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ, was able to die in one nature, and unable to die in the other.

He who is true God was therefore born in the complete and perfect nature of a true man, whole in his own nature, whole in ours. By our nature we mean what the Creator had fashioned in us from the beginning, and took to himself in order to restore it.

For in the Saviour there was no trace of what the deceiver introduced and man, being misled, allowed to enter. It does not follow that because he submitted to sharing in our human weakness he therefore shared in our sins.

He took the nature of a servant without stain of sin, enlarging our humanity without diminishing his divinity. He emptied himself; though invisible he made himself visible, though Creator and Lord of all things he chose to be one of us mortal men. Yet this was the condescension of compassion, not the loss of omnipotence. So he who in the nature of God had created man, became in the nature of a servant, man himself.

Thus the Son of God enters this lowly world. He comes down from the throne of heaven, yet does not separate himself from the Father’s glory. He is born in a new condition, by a new birth.

He was born in a new condition, for, invisible in his own nature, he became visible in ours. Beyond our grasp, he chose to come within our grasp. Existing before time began, he began to exist at a moment in time. Lord of the universe, he hid his infinite glory and took the nature of a servant. Incapable of suffering as God, he did not refuse to be a man, capable of suffering. Immortal, he chose to be subject to the laws of death.

He who is true God is also true man. There is no falsehood in this unity as long as the lowliness of man and the pre-eminence of God coexist in mutual relationship.

As God does not change by his condescension, so man is not swallowed up by being exalted. Each nature exercises its own activity, in communion with the other. The Word does what is proper to the Word, the flesh fulfills what is proper to the flesh.

One nature is resplendent with miracles, the other falls victim to injuries. As the Word does not lose equality with the Father’s glory, so the flesh does not leave behind the nature of our race.

One and the same person – this must be said over and over again – is truly the Son of God and truly the son of man. He is God in virtue of the fact that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He is man in virtue of the fact that the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.

Solemnity of the Annunciation of Our Lord

Nine months from today,
“Do not be afraid.”

God in humility,
Mary in humility,
Our response will shame us
If not one of humility.

Nine months from today,
“Do not be afraid.”

Our Salvation awaits our response.
Mary’s “Fiat” covered her whole life,
“Fiat” to conception.
“Fiat” to flight and pilgrimage.
“Fiat” to dying to self,
“Fiat” to accepting even the Death of her Son,
Then the sword that pierced her heart as it pierced His.

Nine months from today,
In pristine flesh,
Nestled at the breast
Of one who in humility feared naught
For love of God.

Copyright Joann Nelander © 2011   All rights reserved.

No Empty Dream

Lamenting, I quit my case.
Sorrowing, my complaints lie with me
In dust and ashes.
The plaintiff  has become defendant.

I rest the case I brought against You.
What have I proven?
That I never knew You?
That I never sought You?

Counterfeits sufficed to fill my belly.
There was always another dream on the horizon.
Tomorrows pretended to satisfy my emptiness.
The chase was the gambit that became the game.

Before You showed me mercy,
You showed me Me
Not the Me of mirrors, but the Me of my heart,
That shrunken pigmy of diminishing proportion.

Among Men, there is no forgiveness like Yours.
If judged by Men, I would be meted punishment
By the self-righteously righteous,
While the unrighteous, would applaud my vice and welcome me at the hearth,
No forgiveness necessary, where sin is no sin.

As gift, the clarity of Day, dawned suddenly,
You appeared with Light as Your garment,
In Your Light I was all Darkness,
Pretense dissipated as Your Sun rose.

The world appeared not as a prize but as a wonder.
Nature didn’t dictate; it served.
The heart of mothers where turned back to their children.
And You reigned as King.

I would have fainted away,
Had not the Good Thief stood by Your side.
He smiled my way,
Eyes twinkling at the memory of his meeting You upon Your Cross.
Assurances asked, assurances given.
Simple eternal words.

Coming full circle, I rest upon Your arm,
You lift up my head and incline to comfort me.
Mercy smiles on my repentant heart,
And plans for me a future full of hope.

You Who laid the foundation of  the Earth,
Plot a course for me through the Wilderness of the world.
My pilgrimage from sin to saint
Leads through Two Hearts bound by a Mystery uniting Heaven and Earth.

Birthed anew in Baptism,
Restored again in Reconciliation,
Your grace acts on me, Your grace acts in me.
All grace that waited upon my willing.

My will is now that of a child.
I follow at Your side, learning Your ways.
Your Words are my food and my fullness.
Heaven is no longer an empty dream, but a Promise.
From You lips on the Cross, piercing my heart.

“Father forgive them.
They know not what they do.”

Copyright Joann Nelander © 2011   All rights reserved.

Poetry Potluck – Week 27

Jingle Poetry presents this week’s  edition(27th) of Poetry Potluck Monday.

The Price

Weighing words, I watch your eyes.
I filter, measure, disqualify, distrust.
Face value is of no value,
Watch for the tell.

Life was good before the lies.
Your eyes glistened.
I believed in truth.
Now, our eyes never meet.

Copyright Joann Nelander © 2011  All rights reserved

One Shot Wednesday – Week 38

One Shot Wednesday – Time again to read and write.  Let the fun begin!

Here’s my one shot:

The Breech

How great is the distance between us?
Some would say,
The span from East to West,
Or measure in miles the chasm
Stretching from Heaven to Hell.
Others count the centuries,
Since Your earthly Presence
In hallowed flesh.

There is no numbering
Eternity or Divinity.
You are closer than my breath.
Your Heart beats within my breast.
Day by day,
Nay, moment by moment,
I pick up Your rhythm.

Traversing the breech,
You make me Your own.
Small, but beloved,
I repose in willful abandonment.
Grace-filled faith,
A movement,
Not a measure,
Soars to the heavens,
In flights of trust in You.

Copyright © 2011 Joann Nelander   All rights reserved.

Standing invitation to visit One Stop Poetry- Where Poets, Writers and Artists Meet.

It will cheer you, lift your spirits, brighten your mood. It goes a long way in stealing you away from the ho-hum humdrum. There is so much talent on display.

St. Bridgit’s 15 Prayers

Sunday Snippets — A Catholic Carnival

RAnn of  This,That and the Other Thing hosts Sunday Snippets — A Catholic Carnival

Join us or just check out our posts.  This is a great way to share your posts from the past week.

Here are my snippets from the week:

Draw Close to God

The Breech

Intention

Intention

All the people of my life,
I place in Your Life.
Living Savior,
One with the Father,
The Spirit,
And lowly me,
Look on my memory,
And on my forgetfulness.

Search my corridors and halls.
Find all those faces and voices
Of my past, present and forgotten.
Forgive them,
As You’ve forgiven me.
Draw them,
As You have drawn me.

Prepare a heavenly paradise,
In which each may dwell.
Life is short;
Memories fleeting.
You alone endure.
Embracing all,
In Your Eternity.

Amen.

Copyright © 2011 Joann Nelander  All rights reserved.

Draw Close to God

Draw close to God.
Remove competing wills.
In humility,
Take your repose.
Pride conquers all,
Til dying on Christ’s Cross.

Boundless Heart,
Encompassing Universes,
In all dimensions,
You are outside of Time,
Yet close to me.
Eclipse all matter,
Minds, and might,
To draw me nigh to Thee.

Amen.

Copyright Joann Nelander ©2011   All rights reserved.

St. Patricks Day Flash mob erupts in Australia — video

The Deer Cry – St. Patrick’s Breastplate

The Breech

How great is the distance between us?

Some would say
The span from East to West,
Or measure in miles the chasm
Stretching from Heaven to Hell.
Others count the centuries
Since Your earthly Presence
In hallowed flesh.

There is no numbering
Eternity or Divinity.
You are closer than my breath.
Your Heart beats within my breast.
Day by day,
Nay, moment by moment,
I pick up Your rhythm.

Traversing the breech,
You make me Your own.
Small, but beloved,
I repose in willful abandonment.
Grace-filled faith,
A movement,
Not a measure,
Soars to the heavens,
In flights of trust in You.

Copyright © 2011 Joann Nelander All rights reserved.

One Shot Wednesday – Week 37

Image via Wikipedia

Time again for One Shot Wednesday.

Here’s my one shot:

Yad Vashem – Remember

Stolen name replaced by number,
Savaged soul and broken heart.
Hell, a people to encumber.

Blind eyes outside in darkness.
Dead souls dismissed the unthinkable.
Stolen name replaced by number.

Rising from the ashes,
Pledging nevermore.
Hell, a people to encumber.

Yad VaShem, the vault of memory,
Yad VaShem, the ground of tears.
Stolen name replaced by number.

Shoah: families, children.
Here named, remembered, mourned.
Hell, a people to encumber.

Faces pictured in the silence.
Tears cried forevermore.
Stolen name replaced by number.
Hell, a people to encumber.

Copyright © 2011 Joann Nelander    All rights reserved.

Standing invitation to visit One Stop Poetry- Where Poets, Writers and Artists Meet.

It will cheer you, lift your spirits, brighten your mood. It goes a long way in stealing you away from the ho-hum humdrum. There is so much talent on display.

Poetry Potluck – Week 26

Check out Jingle Poetry for Week #26 of Poetry Potluck, and without much ado, here’s what becomes of indulgence:

The Fall

Chains ethereal bind my soul
Confusion clouds the pathways of my reason
Who could have guessed the menace
It was over in a moment with hasty but firm decision.
Subtle flirtation turned a dance of dalliance.
Trojan welcomed without caution.
Grace dismissed with contemporary flair.

Reality now comes in many colors
Shades of gray,
A balancing act to fit the season.
Nothing’s black or white,
Anymore.

Who could have known the cost?
Who would have called it betrayal?
Yet, I had chosen.
I ignored the Voice,
All appetite,
And caressing desire.

Somehow I knew
There would be a price to pay,
But how it would feel,
And what it would be,
Floated in some mist,
Too easily brushed aside
With the feeling of shackles,
Weary old taboos;
So, Adam devoured the apple.

Handle it, I could and would,
Just later…
Now, was for me.
Later, for regret.
A logical scheme.
It worked for me!

The deed
And the darkness descended,
One following the other.
Night fell like a mantle on my shoulders.
Where the joy?
Where promised pleasure?
Where my once bright countenance.

I lifted myself to myself,
Sad at the pillage
Visited upon my soul,
I am alone,
Alone, but for my thoughts,
Thoughts, that, too, accuse you.

The world feels different today,
A bit more cloaked,
As with a secret,
But, I assure myself,
All’s well, the same.

Waking in another Kingdom
I pull the curtain back:
Without, a sky stripped of it’s stars,
Within, only black,
No sun of clarity
No heart of love.

I can no longer trust
That dawn and morning light
Will follow in sure order.
Yet, somehow, I fear they might.
It must be me who changed?

I lingered in this abyss,
Fearing the permanence of my loss.
No stigmatizing letter branded,
For the absence of shame,
But my wax had melted,
and molecules rearranged,
Hardening, misshapen.

Drinking in the Truth,
I could not swallow
The gall of repentance.
Pride, like a master craftsmen,
Fashioned my demise,
Tightening his chain about my heart.

My life, my life,
It’s my life!
I raged at unseen angels.
‘Til falling back upon myself,
I licked my wounds.
I donned a mask of merriment.

Then, one foot after the other,
I dressed for the world.
No one, I assured,
No one would notice
My fall from grace.

Copyright © 2011 Joann Nelander    All rights reserved.

More poetry and enjoyment visit Poetry Potluck at Jingle Poetry.

Sunday Snippets — A Catholic Carnival

RAnn of  This,That and the Other Thing hosts Sunday Snippets — A Catholic Carnival

Join us or just check out our posts.  This is a great way to share your posts from the past week.

Here are my snippets from the week:

I Can Come to You

I Can Come to You

I can come to You in Spirit.
I can sit by Your side.
“Ask Me”, You say.
“Ask of Me”, You invite.

“Come closer, when you are ready.
When you make up your mind.
I see, you are counting the cost.
That is wise, the thing to do.”

“When you measure Me on your scales,
Remember, too, what I paid for you.
I would do it all, again…. just for you.
Measure that, too.”

” ‘Not fair!’, you say.
“Let’s see,” say I.
“Is it Me, Who is unfair,
Or is it you?”

“You weigh friends, that will have go,
If you have any hope of staying true.
Then, you, consider, forbidden loves,
Which, by the by, I call ‘lust’,
Lust that leaves you bust,
Left with only dust.

“You are right to consider,
For while, My Love is free,
It is relentless in it’s quest.
It will change and challenge you.”

“False loves and lovers,
Fade in My Light.
Tinsel tells tawdry,
In the company of Gold.”

I can come to You in Spirit.
I can sit by Your side.
“Ask Me”, You say.
“Ask of Me”, You invite.”

I see You are the Treasure,
‘The Pearl of great price.’
No longer can I sit beside You.

Please,  may I enter into Your Heart?

 

Copyright  Joann Nelander © 2011  All rights reserved.

One Shot Wednesday – Week 36

Time again for One Shot Wednesday.

Here’s my one shot:

Set the World Aright

The world, in turmoil, convulses.
Peoples flee.
Those who know You,
Run to You.
Those, who are rushing
To the pit in despair,
Flee from You,
As from Leviathan.

Show forth Your Truth and Beauty.
Stop sinners in their flight.
Smile, as the Sun from heaven,
That all men may truly see,
And all men know You, O Truth.

You are a scourge
To the proud,
But to the man,
Who clearly sees himself,
For what he is, and faints.
Then, coming to his senses,
Lies prostrate in repentance;
To that man, You are Hope
And help, and healing.

Your Mercy covers a multitude of sin.
Your blood, sprinkled on us,
Cries out “Sanctuary!”
O Altar, O Victim, O Priest.

Christ Jesus,
You know my heart,
And yet embrace it.
Your priestly garment
Covers my nakedness.
Your Kingly Mantle identifies me,
As Child of the Great King.
My name is written on Your Thigh.
Like a mother,
You brought me forth at Your Knees,
To claim me eternally.

The waters well up,
I am washed,
And carried in the current,
To ride the waves of Your Mercy
And come to rest on Your shore
For all eternity.

Celebrate the Mass
Of our Redemption,
Once for all,
And for all time.
The thunder is silent.
The quaking ceases.
The clouds of darkness part.
The Sun of Justice rises,
And the course of the world
Obeys the Will of Your Father.

O Christ, O Holy One,
Guide the course
Of this wayward planet.
Set the earth aright,
And welcome its people
Into Your Heart.

Copyright © 2011 Joann Nelander    All rights reserved.

Standing invitation to visit One Stop Poetry- Where Poets, Writers and Artists Meet.

It will cheer you, lift your spirits, brighten your mood. It goes a long way in stealing you away from the ho-hum humdrum. There is so much talent on display.

Poetry Potluck Monday- Week 25 – Congrats!

I’ll celebrate #25 of Poetry Potluck Monday with these:

A King, A Victim, A Priest

A king,
A victim,
A priest,

A king accused,
A victim scourged,
A priest condemned,

A king crowned and robed,
A victim beaten and humiliated,
A priest on the altar of the Cross,

O Anointed One,
O Crucified One,
O Holy One,
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done.
Eternal Priesthood won.

 
Mary, the Means by the Will of God

O Mary, living for Christ,
From the beginning, Immaculata,
As the Father willed,
Bring forth Christ for all Mankind.

Make me the fruit of your holy labor.
Mary, the means and not the end,
Carry me within your bosom blest.
O Mary, living in me,
May I receive your thoughts
And inspirations.

Let your heart beat with my own.
May your soul inflame my own.
May the soul of Christ,
One with yours
By His Holy Spirit espoused,
Be seed, substance and fruition in me.

Christ, living in your soul,
Extend His victory in me
As your protectorate,
That the Conqueror
Now conquer me.

May the angels wonder at my change,
As your light and inspirations
Become my constant delight.
O, you who are all grace
By the Word of God,
Supply the grace for good to me,

As your hands received their holy orders
From Him who held all sway over your being.
Be in me, the gracious gift of God,
As is all grace.

All is grace
And gratitude
To His glory
And your merit.

I am abandonment.
You are adorned.
I am conformed.
Christ is adored.

 
With St. Ambrose By My Side

St. Ambrose
Walk with me
This entire year,
As a friend and mentor.

In your lifetime,
You had marvelous friends,
All of whom, you led
Closer to God.
May they also pray for me,
So to honor you.
Monica, Augustine, Marcella, Satyrus,
Were made holier
By your counsel.

You walked with Wisdom
By your side,
And made great strides.
Counsel me,
For the glory of the God
That loves me.

I will thank you most properly in heaven.
Yet, my poor heart embraces you,
As my particular friend in Christ, even now.
To God be the glory!

Amen

Copyright © 2011 Joann Nelander    All rights reserved.

More poetry and enjoyment visit Poetry Potluck Monday and Jingle Poetry

Persecuting Christ – Persecuting the Church -Persecuting the Vicar ofChrist

Sunday Snippets – A Catholic Carnival

RAnn of  This,That and the Other Thing hosts Sunday Snippets — A Catholic Carnival

Join us or just check out our posts.  This is a great way to share your posts from the past week.

Here are my snippets from the week:

Set the World Aright

Bill Board Censorship

Interior Witness

From the Moral Reflections on Job by Saint Gregory the Great, pope
The interior witness

Whoever is mocked by his friend, as I am, shall call upon God, and he shall hear him. A weak-minded person is frequently diverted toward pursuing exterior happiness when the breath of popular favor accompanies his good actions. So he gives up his own personal choices, preferring to remain at the mercy of whatever he hears from others. Thus, he rejoices not so much to become but to be called blessed. Eager for praise, he gives up what he had begun to be; and so he is severed from God by the very means by which he appeared to be commendable in God.

But sometimes a soul firmly strives for righteousness and yet is beset by men’s ridicule. He does what is admirable but he gets only mockery. He might have gone out of himself because of man’s praise; he returns to himself when repelled by their abuse. Finding no resting-place without, he cleaves more intensely to God within. All his hope is fixed on his Creator, and amid all the ridicule and abuse he invokes his interior witness alone. One who is afflicted in this way grows closer to God the more he turns away from human popularity. He straightway pours himself out in prayer, and, pressured from without, he is refined with a more perfect purity to penetrate what is within.

In this context, the words apply: Whoever is mocked by his friend, as I am, shall call upon God, and he shall hear him. For while the wicked reproach the just, they show them whom they should look to as the witness of their actions. Thus afflicted, the soul strengthens itself by prayer; it is united within to one who listens from on high precisely because it is cut off externally from the praise of men. Again, we should note how appropriately the words are inserted, as I am. There are some people who are both oppressed by human mockery and are yet deprived of God’s favorable hearing. For when the mockery is done to a man’s own sin, it obviously does not produce the merit that is due to virtue.

The simplicity of the just man is laughed to scorn. It is the wisdom of this world to conceal the heart with stratagems, to veil one’s thoughts with words, to make what is false appear true and what is true appear false. On the other hand it is the wisdom of the just never to pretend anything for show, always to use words to express one’s thoughts, to love the truth as it is and to avoid what is false, to do what is right without reward and to be more willing to put up with evil than to perpetrate it, not to seek revenge for wrong, and to consider as gain any insult for truth’s sake. But this guilelessness is laughed to scorn, for the virtue of innocence is held as foolishness by the wise of this world. Anything that is done out of innocence, they doubtless consider to be stupidity, and whatever truth approves of, in practice is called folly by their earthly wisdom.

One Shot Wednesday – Week 35

Time again for One Shot Wednesday.

Here’s my one shot:

With You In Mind

Still unfolding in Time,
God built the Universe
With you in mind.
Matter abounds in precise measure,
Yet only mind cares
To count the treasure.

The Nature of Reality
Weighs only upon Man.
Mind, immaterial,
Counts on Science to understand.
But mensuration once obtained
Must be thought to think things through,
But since a thought can’t be weighed or measured.
How scientifically construed?

Mind, in this life,
On matter dependent,
Ideas, ethereal,
Yet vaulted resplendent.
Archiving the conceptual
Memories bound to a brain,
Quantifying the great
And trifles mundane.

Man alone of all Creation
Takes the world apart
To see why the tickings
And the tocks.
Challenges, stirred
By matter-less imagination,
End when no greater thought
Can be thought in our machinations.

Only then do we arrive
At the God we accuse,
Of being a non-being All-being
And betray and abuse.
Still He points to the stars
And Man more numerous,
Assuring His intention
Was never injurious.

Life from the stars?
Far-flung seeds of Creation?
Enduring, maturing,
While from the beginning,
The God in the dock
Willing our Salvation.

Copyright © 2011 Joann Nelander  All rights reserved.

 

Standing invitation to visit One Stop Poetry- Where Poets, Writers and Artists Meet.

It will cheer you, lift your spirits, brighten your mood. It goes a long way in stealing you away from the ho-hum humdrum. There is so much talent on display.

Set the World Aright

The world, in turmoil, convulses.
Peoples flee.
Those who know You,
Run to You.
Those, who are rushing
To the pit in despair,
Flee from You,
As from Leviathan.

Show forth Your Truth and Beauty.
Stop sinners in their flight.
Smile, as the Sun from heaven,
That all men may truly see,
And all men know You, O Truth.

You are a scourge
To the proud,
But to the man,
Who clearly sees himself,
For what he is, and faints.
Then, coming to his senses,
Lies prostrate in repentance;
To that man, You are Hope
And help, and healing.

Your Mercy covers a multitude of sin.
Your blood, sprinkled on us,
Cries out “Sanctuary!”
O Altar, O Victim, O Priest.

Christ Jesus,
You know my heart,
And yet embrace it.
Your priestly garment
Covers my nakedness.
Your Kingly Mantle identifies me,
As Child of the Great King.
My name is written on Your Thigh.
Like a mother,
You brought me forth at Your Knees,
To claim me eternally.

The waters well up,
I am washed,
And carried in the current,
To ride the waves of Your Mercy
And come to rest on Your shore
For all eternity.

Celebrate the Mass
Of our Redemption,
Once for all,
And for all time.
The thunder is silent.
The quaking ceases.
The clouds of darkness part.
The Sun of Justice rises,
And the course of the world
Obeys the Will of Your Father.

O Christ, O Holy One,
Guide the course
Of this wayward planet.
Set the earth aright,
And welcome its people
Into Your Heart.

Copyright © 2011 Joann Nelander All rights reserved.