Pour Forth New Day

Thank you, God Almighty!
In these new moments
Of the New Year,
I bow before You,
Lord of All.

Creation like Time
Continues to pour forth
From Your Glorious Majesty.
Never an unprovided instant,
All as You command
For the good of all.

Given is the peace and plenty,
Heard the prayers that bind
Your Heart to mine,
Mended are the trampled fences.
On guard our sure defenses,
Heaven, unsleeping,
Yet at rest,
In the Bosom of Blessedness.

When against the grain
We trespass Your Will
We die outside the Great City
Join now our dying to That One Death
That slayed all Death,
And ravaged the slayer of souls.

Born aloft on the dawn of New Day,
Graced beyond measure,
Sapient Treasure,
Provide the Bread and Wine
To become our Health and Healing,
Daily provision given
As day unto day
You come
With Splendid Son.

Copyright 2013 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved.

Accountable

O Man,awake!
On Earth, you are held accountable,
Are you not?

You sing for your supper.
You dance to life’s tune.
Only the air is free.
All else is taxed.
The first fruit is owed another.

You fear to run from the law.
You are held to a measure.!
If it be such for a man of earth,
Mortal, yet accountable,
Where will a soul, immortal,
Flee upon a coming demise?

Without the stuff of Earth,
Naked and stripped of pomp and circumstance,
Revealed as soul and spirit,
Answering not to man,
But to God,
Are we not all the more accountable?

©2015 Joann Nelander

Known But by Grace

Only, and far flung God,
Bursting upon the scene of Time
To start the clock
By uncreated might,
And usher forth
Your manifold good will,
In the splendor of creation,
Look on me,
In my becoming.
In this, the only now I know,
This precious fleeting instant,
Reveal Yourself evermore.

You entered Time
That Man might enter Heaven.
You, Who are Eternal Being,
Let me contemplate Thee
Wrapped in swaddling clothes,
Nursing at the Virgin’s breast,
Growing as men grow,
Yet knowing the Father Creator
As only Son.

I see Thee arrayed,
Transfigured in the Light,
Even as You are stretched
Between Heaven and Earth
On Your Holy Cross,
Becoming Sin,
And dying in my stead.
Lifted above the earth in Your divinity,
Higher than the mountains,
Yet pervading depth and breathe,
To shake and shape
The cursed land and Man anew,
In elegant Revelation of Mystery,
Rising from the dead,
To live in universal blessedness,
Across all time and space,
Known but by grace.

Copyright 2013 Joann Nelander

Mothers in Un-ending Mourning–Take My Hand

Take My hand,
The very same hand
That in infancy
Grasped My Mother’s finger,
Hugged her about the neck.

Look into My Eyes,
The very eyes
That held My Mother’s gaze.

Let me take you
To your child,
Never forgotten,
Buried in secret mourning,
No day without pain.

Your little one has a heart of love,
A soul of patience
A spirit of forbearance,
And one solitary prayer.

Playing on the lap of Our Father,
Whispering the heart’s desire
Into Abba’s listening ear,
Full of Love’s expectation,
Your babe smiles eternally
And waits for thee.

Take My hand,
The very same hand
That in infancy
Grasped My Mother’s finger,
Hugged her about the neck.
Now is a time to embrace
The gift I give you in Love.

©2012 Joann Nelander

Passion of a Warrior

When did his passion begin?
Did it commence with the kiss
By which he bid his loved ones adieu.
Or did the call to battle
Bid him count the cost,
Shattering vanities and proud hoorahs,
With winter ice
Though veins,
Piercing to the marrow of bone.

The Call was always greater
Than one man’s valor or presumption.
Holier than Adam could undertake in rage,
Yet a young David found an “Amen”
Rising within his shepherd- breast,
Shielded by hope and faith
Born of a Savior,
Yet borne into battle
By the foal that carried Him forth.

All battles,
Waged for the souls of men,
Find common ground;
Friend and foe,
Dying side by side.
As grains numbered as the sand,
And the blood,
Bridle high at Armageddon,
Corpses piled and claiming
The best among us,
As generations of spent warriors’ might,
Trust to God
To judge the heart of every man,
And wear his colors in His raiment.

Memories, born as festering wounds,
Or toughened scars,
Mark the man and record the Passion.
No jot or tiddle forgotten,
Fingered on the ground,
Condemning only the Accurser.

Angels minister the balm of Gilead
As the dead live again,
And the living love
Through the Darkness.
Mended hearts,
Held to a measure,
Weighed on scales of Mercy.
Are blessed.
None forgotten,
All forgiven.

How long? How long?
Martyrs witness the passion of the warrior,
And place merited crown,
And victor’s wreathe,
As a new name resounds,
Pronounced by the Mouth of God.

©2012 Joann Nelander

 

 

Chosen

O Holy Father,
On my death,
And the occasion of my judgement,
I offer You Jesus’ Love for me.

See how He wants me eternally.
Dying to hold me,
His Blood claims me as His own.

He created me with such care,
As I took form in my mother’s womb.

He lavished attentions on me
As living flesh, imbued with eternal soul,
Flourished in the abundant waters of Life.

Unique among His creations,
He smiled upon me, seeing my beauty,
And my need.

See how He sought me,
Playfully with joys,
And in sorrow as I hid myself.

See the iron of His intention,
Bent on me.

See His fury at the Foe,
Who pursued me,
Seeing His Grace reclaiming me.

My Father, minister to Your daughter,
That leaving behind my earthly life,
Heavenly couriers might present me
Before the One,
Whose Spirit lives in me.

See He pieced Side,
Opened wide inviting me,
All the more, longing,
He for me,
And me for Thee in Three,
As leaving the mortal for the immortal,
I seek sanctuary.

You are everywhere in Being,
And in me.
I wrap my heart around Your Godhead,
Your Jesus.

He embraces me with Spirit,
Even in judgement,
I am chosen for the Son.

Copyright 2015 Joann Nelander

Babe of All Perfection

Luke2_16_Nativity

O happy Babe.
Babe of All Perfection,
Your little heart, so full of love,
Your face radiant,
Reflected in Your mother’s gaze.
Your soul, ablaze!
Hearth of longing and compassion,
The Family of Nations comes to adore You

©2011 Joann Nelander

Short Form of Consecration to Mary

O Mary, my Queen and my Mother, remember I am all thine.  Keep me and guard me as thy property and possession. Amen

This prayer can be said throughout the day, keeping us close to Mary, whose deepest desire and intention is to bring us to Jesus.

Your Light, My Light

As the dark of night
Makes way for Your Sun,
Open our eyes to New Day.

To the Temple of our God,
Your Light is carried forth,
In the arms of the Virgin.

Pure Mother of Nations,
May we, too, be bathed,
And come up from the waters,
Open to Light and Life.

copyright 2015 Joann Nelander

When the Sun Rises in the Morning Sky – Final Hours of Advent

When the Sun Rises in the Morning Sky – Final Hours of Advent

Radiant Light

Darkness, fleeing at the approach of Promise,
Star bright and resplendent,
The Sun, illuminating the Virgin’s womb,
Making of it a palace
Fit for a king, a King of Kings.

Light bright angel,
Carrying her “Fiat” heavenward,
Enfolding humility, modesty and obedience,
In the gold of innocence and virtue.

Most High overshadowing,
Virgin most pure and lowly,
Conceiving by privilege,
Godhead and Son of Man.

© 2012 Joann Nelander

Abortion Debate: Trent Horn vs. Professor Cecili Chadwick

An Act of Faith

I have seen enough to know,
I just don’t know,
But there is One Who does,
Giver of Life,
Giver of generations,
Giver of prayer.

One generation to pray
For the next generation.
Mother, and father,
Grandmother, grandfather,
A circle of care
To pray it forward.

Faith waits upon the Lord,
A gift beyond measure,
A mystery waiting to happen,
Not in our time,
But in our Father’s.

No seed too bad
To wait upon,
Hope for,
Entrust to God,
In His Mercy,
And providential time.

Our own close their ears
To the prophet at home
Or next door,
But no one knows
What God has in store.

"Place them here
With Me in the tabernacle,"
Whispers God to the heart.
"I’ll have the last word,
My Love to impart."

One generation to pray
For the next generation.
"All shall be well,
And all shall be well,
And all manner of thing
Shall be well."     (Bl.Julianna of Norwich)

©2012 Joann Nelander

The "O Antiphons" of Advent

The Roman Church has been singing the "O" Antiphons since at least the eighth century. They are the antiphons that accompany the Magnificat canticle of Evening Prayer from December 17-23. They are a magnificent theology that uses ancient biblical imagery drawn from the messianic hopes of the Old Testament to proclaim the coming Christ as the fulfillment not only of Old Testament hopes, but present ones as well. Their repeated use of the imperative "Come!" embodies the longing of all for the Divine Messiah.

 

December 23

O Emmanuel, our King and Giver of Law:
come to save us, Lord our God!

via USCCB

—From "Catholic Household Blessings & Prayers"

The Islam Terror Truthers by DANIEL GREENFIELD

"This   by Dan Greenfield is  very  good,    but would be a bit  better if    Islamic  based terror were explained in terms of the Jihad that all authentic Muslims are “obliged” to do for Allah as per the  Medina Phase of the Quran .   Terror attacks   by the militant Jihadists  are  simply  a component of their asymmetric   war on the WEST.  Were they able to generate force on force   ( symmetric war  )  as ISIS  did against the  Iraqi Army and the  less fundamentalist  Sunni militias in Syria they would do so  of   course.    In areas like the US or Europe  where they are still outnumbered and lack the combat power to do force on force war to take us down, or something more akin to it ,  they use passive infiltration of institutions coupled with  attacks designed to terrorize  their opponents, we “infidels”.  As the fear  of more and more terror spreads,  the passive Jihadists  (some of  whom will  commiserate openly with the infidels) bore deeper and deeper to gain a foothold and eventually an upper hand once  they get enough mass" Dick Roberts
The Islam Terror Truthers

by DANIEL GREENFIELD December 22, 2015

Each and every act of Muslim terrorism is followed by a wave of denial.  The politicians who have done the most to cause the latest disaster are the eagerest to blame it on something, anything else.
The San Bernardino Muslim massacre was blamed on postpartum depression at CNN. Bill Nye blamed the latest Paris attacks on Global Warming. According to Hillary Clinton, Benghazi was a movie review with artillery. Islamic terrorism was blamed by the State Department on a lack of jobs, but Syed Farook had a good government job and his wife was the daughter of a wealthy family.
After rummaging through their big brass chest of excuses, Obama and his media allies have settled on gun control as their latest weapon of mass distraction.
California has the toughest gun laws in the nation. Unlike Ted Kennedy, the terrorists weren’t on the no-fly list that has become the latest desperate meme of mass distraction. And, despite Obama’s claim in Paris that mass shootings don’t happen in other countries because of gun control magic, they most certainly do. European gun control didn’t stop a Muslim mass shooting in Paris that killed 130 people.
Syed Farook and Tasheen Malik had built pipe bombs. The latest attack in the UK involved a knife. So did quite a few in Jerusalem. The Boston Marathon massacre used fireworks and a pressure cooker.
The Muslim mass murder of 3,000 people on 9/11 was carried out with box cutters.
If only we had some way to ban terrorists from buying pressure cookers, knives and box cutters.
Gun control is a distraction. A way to make something other than Islam into the problem that needs solving. If we banned guns, then the problem would be foreign policy. If we spent all our time working to aid Islamist political takeovers, then it would the weather. Obama has tried to aid Islamists and lower sea levels, so he has been reduced to blaming the inanimate objects of the latest terror attack.
Gun control, foreign policy and global warming are denialist gimmicks that reframe the problem.
Denialists will ignore the allegiances of terrorists like Nidal Hassan and Syed Farook to Jihadists to focus on individual pathologies. If that doesn’t work, they’ll pull back to a planetary focus and blame the weather patterns of the entire planet. They’ll zoom in with great detail on weapons purchases while ignoring the ideology that motivated the attacks. They’ll have a hundred different explanations for each attack that fail to account for the phenomenon of Islamic terrorism as a whole.
These aren’t reasonable arguments. Taken together they form a pattern of conspiracy theories.
The most basic aspect of the conspiracy theory is that it bypasses the obvious reasonable explanation and vanishes down a rabbit hole of complicated alternative explanations that make no real sense but allow the conspiracists to avoid dealing with the implications of the actual event that took place.
Leftists did not want to deal with the fact that JFK had been murdered by one of their own. So they invented a bunch of alternative conspiracies involving the CIA, Cubans and other "right-wing" villains. These conspiracies allowed them to avoid dealing with the violence at the heart of the left. But that violence continued to spill over anyway leading to riots and terror plots. In their alternate reality, none of it was their fault. The "Fall of Camelot" was caused by some "miasma of right-wing hatred" in Dallas.
Their response to 9/11 flirted with conspiracy theories.
A poll found that more than half of Democrats believed that George W. Bush had carried out the 9/11 attacks or knew about them beforehand. 1 in 4 Democrats believed that the World Trade Center attack was staged. 1 in 5 believed that the Pentagon attack was carried out by the United States government.
Democratic politicians, with some exceptions, usually knew better than to openly air blatant 9/11 conspiracy theories.  But they instead embraced a "soft" left-wing Trutherism that shifted the focus away from Islamic terrorism to alternative explanations that were meant to distract Americans from what really happened by finding sideways angles for blaming the attack on Bush and Republicans.
Bush may not have masterminded it, but Republican foreign policy caused it. Or worsened it.
It’s 2015 and the Terrorism Truthers have been reduced to frantically scrambling for any explanation from postpartum depression to the weather to explain the persistence of Islamic terrorism.
Trutherism works best when the Truthers aren’t in power. Muslim terrorism can’t be blamed on the government when both France and America are run by ridiculously notorious leftists. All that’s left is a "soft" Trutherism that seeks alternative explanations without being able to consistently answer the central question of why these attacks are taking place.
And this lack of a plausible central conspirator is the weak point of leftist Terrorism Denial.
Leftist Truthers like Obama are forced to constantly substitute new "right-wing" villains. Today it’s the NRA. Yesterday it was a Coptic Christian who made a YouTube video. But like the USSR’s efforts to blame its economic failures on a shifting gallery of villains, these explanations are unsatisfying. And they leave even leftists, never mind ordinary Americans, uneasy about a crisis they don’t understand.
There is something of Orwell’s "We have always been at war with Eastasia" to these deceits.
Today Muslim terrorists are attacking us because of the NRA. Yesterday it was because it was too hot. Before that, it was because of Israel. And before that, it was because of Bush.
But what if Muslim terrorists are attacking us because they’re Muslim terrorists?
What if we can’t beat them by banning guns, changing the weather, supporting Islamists or any of the other magical answers that completely fall apart at even the most casual examination?
The left’s response to Islamic terrorism has been built around a frantic effort to distract and divert us from exactly that question, blaming anything and everything but Islam, while sharply denouncing anyone who ignores the distractions and addresses that central question.
Attorney General Lynch responded to the San Bernardino terror attack by assuring Islamists that she intended to crack down on criticism of Islam. Criticism of Islam is dangerous, not because it leads to a mythical anti-Muslim backlash that we are constantly warned about as if it were more dangerous than Muslim terrorism itself yet never actually materializes, but because it destroys Terrorist Trutherism.
If Islamic terrorism is the problem, then the left and the Democrats who handed over their party to it are guilty of ignoring, minimizing and lying about a serious problem.
They have to go on lying, ignoring and minimizing, and even threatening to dump the First Amendment along with the Second, because they have long since become complicit in the crimes of their Islamist partner organizations.
Yesterday they blamed the weather. Today they’ll blame guns. Tomorrow, it’ll be something else.
We are always at war with Eastasia, unless it’s Eurasia. We are never however at war with Islam. The issue may be anything so long as it isn’t Muslim terrorism. Those are the words that no Democrat will utter. They will call it "man-caused disasters" or "violent extremism" or "hybrid workplace Jihad".
It’s time to call this what it is, denial-ism, trutherism and conspiracism.
The famous epigram, "Treason doth never prosper, what’s the reason? For if it prosper, none dare call it treason", expressed the absurd hypocrisy of a government of traitors. But what happens when there is a government of conspiracy theorists? Then conspiracies exist to divert attention from the failures and crimes of those in charge. The conspiracy theory itself becomes the conspiracy.
It’s time to take away Obama’s weapons of mass distraction and expose his Trutherism for what it is.
Islamic terrorism isn’t caused by a thousand different problems, conditions, conspiracies and excuses. It’s caused by Islam. Every attempt to distract from that is Denial-ism and Trutherism.
And we owe it to the victims of the latest attack and all the attacks to end the denial and the lies.   

Read more: Family Security Matters http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/the-islam-terror-truthers?f=must_reads#ixzz3v3xYSLOY
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

When Does a Human Life Begin?

The "O Antiphons" of Advent

The Roman Church has been singing the "O" Antiphons since at least the eighth century. They are the antiphons that accompany the Magnificat canticle of Evening Prayer from December 17-23. They are a magnificent theology that uses ancient biblical imagery drawn from the messianic hopes of the Old Testament to proclaim the coming Christ as the fulfillment not only of Old Testament hopes, but present ones as well. Their repeated use of the imperative "Come!" embodies the longing of all for the Divine Messiah.

 

December 22

O King of all nations and keystone of the Church:
come and save man, whom you formed from the dust!

 

via USCCB

Feel Good with Disney presents THE LION KING

Feel Good with Disney presents THE LION KING

Churchill: "What Kind of a People Do They Think We Are?"

 

"If you will allow me to use other language, I will say that he must indeed have a blind soul who cannot see that some great purpose and design is being worked out here below of which we have the honor to be the faithful servants. It is not given to us to peer into the mysteries of the future. Still, I avow my hope and faith, sure and inviolate, that in the days to come the British and American peoples will, for their own safety and for the good of all, walk together in majesty, in justice and in peace."

Those words of Winston Churchill, addressed to a joint session of Congress,Dec. 26, 1941, shortly after The United States entered the War, are still a powerful acknowledgement of the Providence of God, and a battle cry to unite against Evil in all its intrusions.

Churchill spoke clarity and truth with resolve, clarion in its urgency:

You do not, I am certain, underrate the severity of the ordeal to which you and we have still to be subjected. The forces ranged against us are enormous. They are bitter, they are ruthless. The wicked men and their factions, who have launched their peoples on the path of war and conquest, know that they will be called to terrible account if they cannot beat down by force of arms the peoples they have assailed. They will stop at nothing.

When our leaders fail to inspire, our hearts must lean heavy on the lessons and inspirations of the past. We are the same American people, again, being tested, yet still knowing how remarkable we are on the scene of history. As cultures go, we are yet in our youth, still seeking immortal values to carry this ship of State.

Churchill asks Congress on December 26, 1941:

What kind of a people do they think we are? Is it possible that they do not realize that we shall never cease to persevere against them until they have been taught a lesson which they and the world will never forget?

Churchill’s words proved oh, too, true!  We are still learning that we never cease procuring and securing our freedoms.

Listening to Love

What are you saying, dear Lord?

You Who speak with Your poor creature.

Give voice to Your desire.

Place Your lips to my ear.

How do You speak?

Will I hear a voice?

See a vision?

Feel Your stirrings in my soul?

Will there be thunder as on Sinai

Or the breeze of Carmel?

Can I see in my blindness?

Hear, despite ears that have inclined to foreign gods?

Barnacles of perversion weigh on me.

Encrustations of sin hamper my ascent.

Give me feathers,

And wings of desire,

That I might rise, weightless and free,

Drawn by Your Love for me,

As music on the Wind of Your Spirit.

 

©2011 Joann Nelander

Crown of Thorns Prayer in Reparation

Dear Lord, I am grieved when I consider Your sad condition when You wore the Crown of Thorns upon Your holy head.
I desire to withdraw the thorns by offering to the Eternal Father the merits of Your Wounds for the salvation of sinners. I wish to unite my actions to the merits of Your Most Holy Crown, so that they may gain many merits, as You have promised.
Amen.

WORDS OF OUR LORD TO SR MARY MARTHA CHAMBON

During an apparition of Our Lord to Sr Mary Martha Chambon, He appeared in a pitiful state, wearing the Crown of Thorns. Appealing for compassion, He said: “Behold Him whom you seek, and the condition in which He is! Look…withdraw the thorns from My head by offering to My Father the merits of My Wounds for sinners… Go, seek for souls!” While Sr Mary Martha was contemplating the holy Crown, she saw rays of glory darting from each thorn.

WORDS OF OUR LORD TO SR MARY MARTHA CHAMBON

During an apparition of Our Lord to Sr Mary Martha Chambon, He appeared in a pitiful state, wearing the Crown of Thorns. Appealing for compassion, He said: “Behold Him whom you seek, and the condition in which He is! Look…withdraw the thorns from My head by offering to My Father the merits of My Wounds for sinners… Go, seek for souls!” While Sr Mary Martha was contemplating the holy Crown, she saw rays of glory darting from each thorn.

[WOW] Little girl mistakes bearded shopper as Santa Claus and he goes along with it

a

The "O Antiphons" of Advent

 

The Roman Church has been singing the "O" Antiphons since at least the eighth century. They are the antiphons that accompany the Magnificat canticle of Evening Prayer from December 17-23. They are a magnificent theology that uses ancient biblical imagery drawn from the messianic hopes of the Old Testament to proclaim the coming Christ as the fulfillment not only of Old Testament hopes, but present ones as well. Their repeated use of the imperative "Come!" embodies the longing of all for the Divine Messiah.

 

December 21

O Radiant Dawn,
splendor of eternal light, sun of justice:
come and shine on those who dwell in darkness and in the
shadow of death.

vis USCCB

Jesus , Savior in Repose

O, my Jesus, 
In gentle and humble repose upon the altar,
Wrap Your arms about me.
My body yearns for Your embrace. 

Only Your Humanity can unlock 
The treasure trove of grace, 
You hold in store for me, 
A repentant sinner,
Grace, You purchased for me 
By Your coming to Man as Man, 
In Your weakness and poverty and might.

You called Yourself,"Son of Man",
And by Your obedience, 
Suffering and Death upon the Cross, 
Showed us True Love.

All Holy, All Human, All Love, All God,
Son and Servant of God, 
Benefit and Benefactor of Man,
Apply the fruit of Your Saving Death
To my humanity,
To the glory of God,
And the continuous deification
Of my poor, desirous body and soul.

Conceive in me thoughts, words and deeds, 
Which bring to fulfillment our Father's plan 
For my life and eternity,
So, that purged of all Sin and concupiscence,
I might shine with radiant joy,
Hidden and secure in Your Heart, 
As does Your Virgin Mother, Mary.
"Be it done to me according to Your Word."
Amen.

Copyright 2011 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved

The "O Antiphons" of Advent

The Roman Church has been singing the "O" Antiphons since at least the eighth century. They are the antiphons that accompany the Magnificat canticle of Evening Prayer from December 17-23. They are a magnificent theology that uses ancient biblical imagery drawn from the messianic hopes of the Old Testament to proclaim the coming Christ as the fulfillment not only of Old Testament hopes, but present ones as well. Their repeated use of the imperative "Come!" embodies the longing of all for the Divine Messiah.

 

December 19

O Root of Jesse’s stem,
sign of God’s love for all his people:
come to save us without delay!

via USCCB

“O” Antiphons

The Roman Church has been singing the "O" Antiphons since at least the eighth century. They are the antiphons that accompany the Magnificat canticle of Evening Prayer from December 17-23. They are a magnificent theology that uses ancient biblical imagery drawn from the messianic hopes of the Old Testament to proclaim the coming Christ as the fulfillment not only of Old Testament hopes, but present ones as well. Their repeated use of the imperative "Come!" embodies the longing of all for the Divine Messiah.

 

December 18

O Leader of the House of Israel,
giver of the Law to Moses on Sinai:
come to rescue us with your mighty power!

via USCCB

Prepare Ye!

Cover your eyes,
Lest you look on evil.
Stop your ears
Lest the fowl word assail.

The unthinkable
Has come to pass.
The forbidden
Have come to be.

The very air carries
The Tempter’s brood,
Sinister, in cloaked deceit.
Evil snakes in high places,
Surreptitious, in plans and plottings.

Look, and you will not see
The Perpetrator.
Sound the alarm,
But to meet mock outrage,
And the blind eye.

The pot once simmering
Has come to a boil,
No lid to contain,
No effort to constrain.

Prepare ye!
Prepare Ye!
With prayer,
And fasting,
Prepare ye!

From the Four Corners
Trumpet blasts,
Herald of battle,
A call to arms.

Arrows, tipped with prayer,
Fly heavenward,
Rising to hail the Almighty,
To bid bright Michael
To storm.

Let them descend as rain
To pierce the heart of Darkness
To rout the Foe
On the Terrible Day,
The Day of the Lord.

Mercy opens His Breast,
Revealing a Heart of Love.
Justice clothes the anawim
In plated armor.

Light from light
Fills the Earth
As Pentecost,
And Genesis meet.

A New Heaven
And New Earth to come,
As the King of All Nations
Arises in the East,
Prepared to mount His throne.

Prepare ye!
Prepare Ye!
With prayer,
And fasting,
Prepare ye!

©2012 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved

"O" Antiphons

The Roman Church has been singing the "O" Antiphons since at least the eighth century. They are the antiphons that accompany the Magnificat canticle of Evening Prayer from December 17-23. They are a magnificent theology that uses ancient biblical imagery drawn from the messianic hopes of the Old Testament to proclaim the coming Christ as the fulfillment not only of Old Testament hopes, but present ones as well. Their repeated use of the imperative "Come!" embodies the longing of all for the Divine Messiah.

December 17

O Wisdom of our God Most High,
guiding creation with power and love:
come to teach us the path of knowledge!

Via USCCB

Ex-Muslim talks about escaping Shariah law

Amani Mustafa talks about escaping Egypt as a Christian and how Islam does not understand human rights