Hillary Clinton’s Nightmare By Judge Andrew P. Napolitano

Hillary Clinton’s Nightmare
By Judge Andrew P. Napolitano
Published Jan. 28, 2016
Hillary Clinton’s nightmare is not the sudden resurgence of Bernie Sanders. It is the fidelity to the rule of law of the FBI.

The recent revelations of the receipt by Clinton of a Special Access Program email, as well as cut and pasted summaries of state secrets on her server and on her BlackBerry nearly guarantee that the FBI will recommend that the Department of Justice convene a grand jury and seek her indictment for espionage. Here is the backstory.

It seems that every week, more information comes to light about Clinton’s grave legal woes. Her worries are in two broad categories: One is her well-documented failure to safeguard state secrets and the other is her probable use of her position as secretary of state to advance financially her husband’s charitable foundation. The FBI is currently and aggressively investigating both. What I will describe below is in the state secrets category. It is apparently not new to the FBI, but it is new to the public.

Among the data that the FBI either found on the Clinton server or acquired from the State Department via its responses to Freedom of Information Act requests is a top-secret email that has been denominated Special Access Program. Top secret is the highest category of state secrets (the other categories are confidential and secret), and of the sub-parts of top secret, SAP is the most sensitive.
SAP is clothed in such secrecy that it cannot be received or opened accidentally. Clinton — who ensured all of her governmental emails came to her through her husband’s server, a nonsecure nongovernmental venue — could only have received or viewed it from that server after inputting certain codes. Those codes change at unscheduled times, such that she would need to inquire of them before inputting them.

The presence of the SAP-denominated email on her husband’s server, whether opened or not, shows a criminal indifference to her lawful obligation to maintain safely all state secrets entrusted to her care. Yet, Clinton has suggested that she is hopelessly digitally inept and may not have known what she was doing. This constitutes an attempted plausible deniability to the charge of failing to safeguard state secrets.

But in this sensitive area of the law, plausible deniability is not an available defense; no judge would permit the assertion of it in legal filings or in a courtroom, and no lawyer would permit a client to make the assertion.

This is so for two reasons. First, failure to safeguard state secrets is a crime for which the government need not prove intent. The failure can be done negligently. Thus, plausible deniability is actually an admission of negligence and, hence in this case, an admission of guilt, not a denial.

Second, Clinton signed an oath under penalty of perjury on Jan. 22, 2009, her first full day as secretary of state. In that oath, she acknowledged that she had received a full FBI briefing on the lawfully required care and keeping of state secrets. Her briefing and her oath specified that the obligation to safeguard state secrets is absolute — it cannot be avoided or evaded by forgetfulness or any other form of negligence, and that negligence can bring prosecution.

What type of data is typically protected by the SAP denomination? The most sensitive under the sun — such as the names of moles (spies working for more than one government) and their American handlers, the existence of black ops (illegal programs that the U.S. government carries out, of which it will deny knowledge if exposed), codes needed to access state secrets and ongoing intelligence gathering projects.

The crime here occurs when SAPs are exposed by residing in a nonsecure venue; it does not matter for prosecution purposes whether they fell into the wrong hands.

Clinton’s persistent mocking of the seriousness of all this is the moral equivalent of taunting alligators before crossing a stream. SAPs are so sensitive that most of the FBI agents who are investigating Clinton lack the security clearances needed to view the SAP found among her emails. Most FBI agents have never seen a SAP.

Shortly after the presence of the SAP-denominated email was made known, the State Department released another email Clinton failed to erase wherein she instructed her subordinates to take state secrets from a secure venue, to cut and paste and summarize them, and send them to her on her nonsecure venue. Such an endeavor, if carried out, is a felony — masking and then not safeguarding state secrets. Such a command to subordinates can only come from a criminal mind.

Equally as telling is a little-known 2013 speech that recently surfaced given by one of Clinton’s former subordinates. The aide revealed that Clinton and her staff regularly engaged in digital conversations about state secrets on their BlackBerries. This is not criminal if the BlackBerries were government-issued and secured. Clinton’s was neither. It was purchased at her instructions off the shelf by one of her staff.

Can anyone doubt that Clinton has failed to safeguard state secrets? If her name were Hillary Rodham instead of Hillary Rodham Clinton, she’d have been indicted months ago.

What remains of the rule of law in America? The FBI will soon tell us.

Ceaseless Prayer

Ceaseless the prayer You desire of me.
Your Eyes behold me.
You wait for me to lift my eyes
From the world
To gaze heavenward,
To behold You smiling upon me.
You long for our eyes to meet
In an exchange of love
And longing.

Ceaseless prayer is no less
Than a return of Love’s attention,
Glances passed one to the Other,
Constancy of care,
Attentive watchfulness.

Hearts speak in wordless knowing
All the while willing to know and be known.
The Greater gifting the lesser
With nothing less than His own Life.

The world becomes a room
Filled with the Light You shed
As I become a candle
Held in the Hand of God,
Melting in a pool,
Readied for a new mold,
True to the goodness
God gives me,
As He beholds
His creation from eternity
And says throughout Time
“It is good. “

©2012 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved

I

Choices

I believe that if we realized the person in-utero is not hanging in some ethereal place while we decide whether or not we can accommodate our lives to their presence in the here and now, realizing that they are a reality and not a choice, and that their one life is all they have on earth and they want it just as much as we want, defend and protect our own, for they precious to us, then the abortion debate would be over.

Here I Am

Here I am, beneath your heart,
My heart beating in happy harmony,
As my frame perceives
The gentle throbbing within your breast,
Serene.

I began in secret and in darkness,
A mystery, even to myself.
Day by day, nature shapes my clay,
As you await the blessed dawn of my birth day.

What I know, I know by existence.
I am now all trust,
Simply growing,
Simply becoming who I am.

Comfort, you give comfort.
Love, you are all I know of love.
As you wait for me, my mother,
The eyes of my soul are wide open.
I behold you, smiling upon me.
Expectant, vigilant and gleeful,

Mother of my moments,
You cradle me.
You are my home of sweet delight.

© 2011 Joann Nelander

A Home for My God

David, Thy Servant, desired to build You a house.
I, too, desire to build You a holy dwelling.
I desire to build it here,
In this space in which I live.

Here on this ground of my being,
More than brick and mortar,
More than outward beauty,
I raise its rafters of prayer.

I desire this house to be a home,
Where angels and saints are welcome,
And drawn by the Heart of this dwelling,
For the home I will build is totally Yours.

With Davis, Your servant, I desire.
I desire to please  and serve my God.
Make of me a home, an abode,
In which we may sup,
Now, and eternally.

(C)2016 Joann Nelander

Choices

I believe that if we realized the person in-utero is not hanging in some ethereal place while we decide whether or not we can accomodate our lives to their presence in the here and now, realizing that they are a reality and not a choice, and that their one life is all they have on earth and they want it just as much as we want, defend and protect our own, for they precious to us, then the abortion debate would be over.

Here I Am
Here I am, beneath your heart,

My heart beating in happy harmony,

As my frame perceives

The gentle throbbing within your breast,

Serene.
I began in secret and in darkness,

A mystery, even to myself.

Day by day, nature shapes my clay,

As you await the blessed dawn of my birth day.
What I know, I know by existence.

I am now all trust,

Simply growing,

Simply becoming who I am.
Comfort, you give comfort.

Love, you are all I know of love.

As you wait for me, my mother,

The eyes of my soul are wide open.

I behold you, smiling upon me.
Expectant, vigilant and gleeful,

Mother of my moments,

You cradle me.

You are my home of sweet delight.
© 2011 Joann Nelander

Remembering the Challenger and Those We Lost

Speak the Perfect One in Me

You spoke
And matter came to be.
Beauty and wisdom
Reigned over form,
And substance served
Your Thought.

You ruled the spheres and firmament
To create both void and fullness.
Your creation dawned in darkness,
And You let there be light.

First and last and all in between
Found a  place in Time.
You spoke forth Man
And, in my time, me.

You said,
“Be perfect
As I am perfect,”
And set free the human heart,
That it might know,
And love,
And serve Thee.
Yet will resisted service
And loved naught but itself.
“Tortuous and beyond remedy”,
We hid from Thee.

In Time, You spoke, the Cure.
Announcing to the Virgin,
And by a Star
And angels herald,
Saving throughout creation,
Twisted hearts.
Jordan’s waters, purifying
By the Holy to make men holy,
Love made manifest
By descending Dove
Again You spoke,
“This is my Son.”

Now, bowing will,
Longing in Your Christ,
Receive me as  son to Thee,
Anoint with Healing Balm,
Redeeming accursed Fall,
That perfect I, too,
May, please Thee, be.

When You speak
Life comes to be.
Speak now, the Perfect,
That I may perfect be
And, at long last, love Thee.

©2013 Joann Nelander

What of Me?

I am old and getting older.
My frame is frail and fire flickering.
My body speaks of leaving,
But what of me?

The body is all I have known.
My soul and spirit have been quite at home
What we have known of living
Has come by the body’s telling.

When I go hence,
And dust reclaims this house,
I will look to You,
For it was You who lit my flame.

The body didn’t give me life,
Nor shall its demise
Claim my life.
You are the font of my being.

Those who seek to love the world,
And those who choose the self apart from God,
Finally find they worship a needy god,
Who has not the power to meet their needs.

Before my parting,
My course will be marked,
Drawn by my choices and loves.
In death, may I further pursue my Love.

You are familiar to me in a homey way.
We have lived together all these years,
And I will recognize Your Voice
When You call me home.

No fear, no sudden fury,
Shall stop my pilgrim stride,
Or bend my will,
Long bent on You.

What of me?
Without You,
I would not know myself.
Call to me and I will come

©2016 Joann Nelander

My Garden Grows

I will sit here,
Telling my love to You.
Look on me as in a garden
Tending these flowers of love.

I water them,
Sometimes with tears,
Sometimes with sweat,
And always with the water
That flows from my Baptism.

Water my garden from above.
Make my flowers grow,
And as I tend them,
Please send your angels to plant seeds
For our eternal tomorrows,
Far off, My Love,
But soon, eternally, Now.

No More Night – Youtube

You Are God

You are God
Wholly Other,
Yet Your humanity
Embraces me
By sacrament.

You are the Head,
The Church, Your Mystical Body,
And in it
I wash my robes,
To take on
The Infant Life of Christ,
Wholly dependent,
Yet gifted
With abundant blessing.

You are God,
Wholly Other,
My Father receives me,
Clothed in the living Flesh
Of the beloved Son.

Copyright 2012 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved

On Earth As It Is in Heaven

I love analogies when they immediately shed a ray of light in my struggle for understanding. In the Our Father, Jesus teaches us to ask for His Father’s "Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven." I got stumped trying to understand how His Father’s Will being done on Earth as it is in Heaven is possible while we are on this earth as we still suffer the effects of the Fall. Even with the gift of the sacraments, we are prone to sin again, and again, despite our honest resolve to turn away from sin and to sin no more.

Believing this request to be infinitely more than a simply desirable and beautiful rhetorical phrase, I asked Jesus, how can this be, when sin once committed can’t be undone, even by God. While great theological answers are beyond me, I was happily satisfied, when an image of my favorite handbag popped into mind.

Bits and pieces of old, worn, discarded remnants of seemingly useless cloth make-up my bag. The new creation is to me beautiful. Looking on it now with an internal gaze, I grasped a bit more of the wonder of Salvation and the Church’s cry, "O Happy Fault".

Sinners, despite their irrevocable falls, being infinitely loved by God, receive His answer to their prayer in Jesus. Their need draws God to themselves. The dilemma of Sin and our frailty, which is the contradiction to the Father’s Will for the perfection of Heaven He desires for the Earth, is solved by the coming of God, Himself. God comes! He comes, draws us to Himself, and in this, Heaven reigns on Earth with the Father’s Will. The answer is in the works, and we are the work. We, the bits and pieces, find a heavenly place in the Son.

On Earth As It Is in Heaven

I love analogies when they immediately shed a ray of light in my struggle for understanding. In the Our Father, Jesus teaches us to ask for His Father’s "Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven." I got stumped trying to understand how His Father’s Will being done on Earth as it is in Heaven is possible while we are on this earth as we still suffer the effects of the Fall. Even with the gift of the sacraments, we are prone to sin again, and again, despite our honest resolve to turn away from sin and to sin no more.

Believing this request to be infinitely more than a simply desirable and beautiful rhetorical phrase, I asked Jesus, how can this be, when sin once committed can’t be undone, even by God. While great theological answers are beyond me, I was happily satisfied, when an image of my favorite handbag popped into mind.

Bits and pieces of old, worn, discarded remnants of seemingly useless cloth make-up my bag. The new creation is to me beautiful. Looking on it now with an internal gaze, I grasped a bit more of the wonder of Salvation and the Church’s cry, "O Happy Fault".

Sinners, despite their irrevocable falls, being infinitely loved by God, receive His answer to their prayer in Jesus. Their need draws God to themselves. The dilemma of Sin and our frailty, which is the contradiction to the Father’s Will for the perfection of Heaven He desires for the Earth, is solved by the coming of God, Himself. God comes! He comes, draws us to Himself, and in this, Heaven reigns on Earth with the Father’s Will. The answer is in the works, and we are the work. We, the bits and pieces, find a heavenly place in the Son.

Confession–Talks by Rev. Hugh Thwaites SJ

Via Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice – Download free mp3s

 

Confession: This will make you eager to receive "the sacrament which is dearest to the Heart of Our Lord".

Rev. Hugh Thwaites SJ
Confession – Talk 1
talk_HTConf1.mp3

Rev. Hugh Thwaites SJ
Confession – Talk 2
talk_HTConf2.mp3

Rev. Hugh Thwaites SJ
Confession – Talk 3
talk_HTConf3.mp3

Rev. Hugh Thwaites SJ
Confession – Talk 4
talk_HTConf4.mp3

Rev. Hugh Thwaites SJ
Confession – Talk 5
talk_HTConf5.mp3

Rev. Hugh Thwaites SJ
Confession – the neglected Sacrament

talk_HTConfNeg.mp3

Don’t Give Up the Ship or Your Honor

This is the stuff of that should prompt a Congressional Investigation or Naval Court of Inquiry.  Call your US Congressman.  Do what you can!

  DON’T GIVE UP THE SHIP
Bob Lonsberry © 2016

The account of two U. S. Navy vessels being seized by the Iranian navy earlier this week seems completely implausible.

No part of it makes any sense.

The story is that two river patrol boats – bristling modern-day incarnations of the Vietnam swift boats – were navigating south from Kuwait to Bahrain. At some point, via some means, the two boats, with their contingent of five sailors each, surrendered to the Iranians.

Two accounts have been offered as to how that happened. The first was that one of the vessels lost its engine and that they both then drifted into Iranian waters. The other was that the two boats had been operating fine, but inadvertently navigated into Iranian territory.   

Simply put, they got lost.

Neither account seems possible.

First off, if one of the boats broke down, and the sailor aboard trained to tend the engine couldn’t fix it, the other boat would merely take it in tow and they would proceed on their way. That is not a novel maritime undertaking.   

The second scenario – oops, we got lost – is even less likely. It turns out that navigation and navigation equipment are kind of a high priority for the Navy. Boats don’t get lost. Highly technical navigation equipment on both boats would have told crew members exactly where they were.   

And in the unlikely event that both boats lost all electronic navigational equipment, and the compasses lost track of magnetic north, there is the simple fact that sailing from Kuwait to Bahrain pretty much involves nothing more complex than keeping the shore on your starboard side. And should you lose sight of shore, and can remember that the map has safety to the west and danger to the east, you’d think that the position of the sun in the sky or the fact that prevailing winds in the Persian Gulf in the winter are northwesterly, would somehow have allowed our sailors to find the Saudi shoreline instead of Iranian waters.   

And all of that presumes that these two boats were operating alone in the open seas, which they presumably were not. There is, in fact, a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier battle group operating in the Persian Gulf.   

The USS Harry S Truman owns the Persian Gulf these days, and the significant American military presence in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait – lands immediately proximate to the waters where our sailors were operating – makes us the biggest dog on the block.   

And we’ve got radar and helicopters and airplanes and stuff like that.

And if an American vessel breaks down at sea, or strays from course, under those operational conditions, there are a lot of American assets that would both notice the problem and be able to offer relief.   

Yet no one did.

We’re supposed to believe nobody radioed a couple of inexplicably lost boats to ask where they were going? When one of them supposedly broke down, a carrier battle group had no means to come to their assistance?  

That makes no sense.

It’s completely unbelievable.

So is the apparent conduct of the sailors in the face of a supposed challenge by the Iranian military.

If one of the vessels was disabled, as is claimed, and hostile craft are approaching, bringing with them the prospect of capture and captivity, don’t you put all 10 sailors on the able boat, sink the disabled boat, and race the bad guys back to international waters?   

From the Iranian video, it looks like two or three bass boats and four guys in mismatched uniforms, with a couple of AK’s, captured two far-larger and better-armed American boats, both of which were bristling with mounted machine guns.   

Here’s a fact: When you’re kneeling on the deck of your own boat, with your hands clasped behind your head, and some guy’s shouting at you in terrorist language, things didn’t go right.   

And yet, that’s exactly what supposedly happened here. Ten American sailors, successors to Captain James Lawrence, are on their knees next to their unfired guns, in the face of a smaller and less well-armed opponent – with little American flags snapping in the breeze.   

This is not the stuff of Commodore Perry and Admiral Farragut.

And you wonder whose call it was.

How far up the chain of command did they have to go to find the cowardly lion who ordered this genuflection before a bunch of savages? Did this get bounced all the way to the Pentagon, or the Situation Room? Which secretary of what made the decision not to put a squadron of naval aviators above those two boats to keep the camel jockeys at bay?   

It is shameful, a worldwide embarrassment for the nation and the Navy.

And it is topped off by an obsequious videotaped apology, and pictures of our sailors, captive in hostile hands, the female with a towel over her head.

The President can ignore this.

But we can’t.

We got pantsed. We got humiliated. We showed either weakness or incompetence. And unfortunately either one only invites aggression against us.

It is inconceivable that you could find 10 Americans willing to surrender themselves and their equipment without a fight. It is not plausible that any young man or woman entering into the naval service would willingly kneel on the deck of a combat-capable ship.   

Somebody told them to give up.

And that somebody, and the philosophy he represents, will be the death of us.

– by Bob Lonsberry © 2016

Hidden Jesus

Hidden Jesus,
You fill my heart with desire.
I feel the agony
Of this earthly foray.

In Your Presence
Faith fills the silence.
Truth like beauty
Says You passed this way.

Your footprints in Time
Dot the heavens.
While I stand in the vestibule of eternity,
As one holding paradise at bay.

Aching emptiness
Of temporal schemes and dreams,
But mask my loneliness
For yet another day.

Step over the threshold
Where angel guards Eden’s gate
To drip Your fingers
Into my life as now I pray.

Copyright 2014 Joann Nelander

High on Your Cross,

High on Your Cross,
All the world lay at Your feet,
Broken!

The Body of the Christ is broken,
Broken for us.
The Body of the Lord is broken,
Broken to redeem.

The Father has placed under Your Feet,
Your enemies,
His enemies.
You, broken on the Cross,
Embrace Your enemies,
Willing to Love them into Life.
Inviting my free will to choose Him Whose Heart
Breaks for me.

The Earth quaked at Your Dying,
To open and receive Your Blood.
Grace, all Grace!
High on Your Cross,
With me at Your Feet,
My heart breaks to receive You.

Broken Body of Jesus,
One with me in redemption,
Mine.

© 2016 Joann Nelander

Candles on Altars

All men are candles,

Burning on some altar.

Some disappear into nothingness,

Before worldly idols,

Unable to sustain their spark

Beyond the veil,

Into eternity.

Others light the heavens

As they are consumed

On the altar of Love,

Merging imperceptibly,

Creature with Creator.

When my wax is spent,

I pray I am not distracted

By my sin.

When I melt

Into the arms of God,

May it be that Love,

That lit my flame,

Outshines my imperfections

In holy consummation.

Burn candle, all alight

Warming with mercy rays the night,

To Penetrate hearts of friend and foe,

To soothe and mend wounds,

Dispelling darkness

With the Uncreated Light

That set creation into being.

Now and forever,

I cast myself

Into the flame,

The furnace of His Sacred Heart.

Passing through pierced side,

One with the Virgin,

Holy angels and expurgated saints of ole,

Melted in union,

I am formed anew in Christ,

With the Father and Spirit,

Candle, altar and Salvation might.

© 2014 Joann Nelander

Candles on Altars

All men are candles,

Burning on some altar.

Some disappear into nothingness,

Before worldly idols,

Unable to sustain their spark

Beyond the veil,

Into eternity.

Others light the heavens

As they are consumed

On the altar of Love,

Merging imperceptibly,

Creature with Creator.

When my wax is spent,

I pray I am not distracted

By my sin.

When I melt

Into the arms of God,

May it be that Love,

That lit my flame,

Outshines my imperfections

In holy consummation.

Burn candle, all alight

Warming with mercy rays the night,

To Penetrate hearts of friend and foe,

To soothe and mend wounds,

Dispelling darkness

With the Uncreated Light

That set creation into being.

Now and forever,

I cast myself

Into the flame,

The furnace of His Sacred Heart.

Passing through pierced side,

One with the Virgin,

Holy angels and expurgated saints of ole,

Melted in union,

I am formed anew in Christ,

With the Father and Spirit,

Candle, altar and Salvation might.

© 2014 Joann Nelander

Benediction

I reach for You in the night,
On my bed, desiring.
Knowing You present in the darkness,
Watching, loving, desiring me.

As I look to You,
My desire grows,
Believing I can attain You,
You, Who are beyond me of myself,
An impossibility on my own,
Yet I invite and hope, believing.

Presuming not the power of myself,
But wholly choosing You,
My Honored Guest, my Holy Quest
I beg Your residence eternal and supreme.

Prepare me for the Day
Of Your Perfect and Perpetual Presence,
When faith and hope are fed and satisfied
At the Banquet of Abundance.

Rejoicing and hungry no more,
Possessed and possessing You,
The end of my prayer,
Forever new ,
Forever beginning ,
Forever Day,
In the Eternal Now,
Then to live Life and Love,
Forever Knowing.

© 2016 Joann Nelander

The number of Christian martyrs has tripled in two years. :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Washington D.C., Jan 15, 2016 / 04:03 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In 2013, there were some 2,100 Christians killed for faith-related reasons across the globe. Last year, that number rose to at least 7,100, according to a recent report from an advocacy group.“The persecution of Christians is getting worse – in every region in which we work – and it’s getting worse fast,” Lisa Pearce, CEO of Open Doors UK and Ireland, said in the group’s 2016 report. “Many countries have dropped down the list, not because persecution there is decreasing, but simply because others are getting worse faster. And it wasn’t good three years ago.”“We can and must be strenuous in protecting Christians and all others facing persecution for their faith,” Pearce added.Open Doors has worked to help persecuted Christians for over 60 years. It was founded by a Dutchman known as Brother Andrew. He smuggled Bibles into Eastern Europe at a time when communist regimes severely restricted Christianity and other religions.The organization works in 60 countries. Each year, it compiles instances of anti-Christian persecution and evaluates the global situation.

Source: The number of Christian martyrs has tripled in two years. :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

Darkly Here

Though I perceive myself without You,
I could not reach for You, as I do,
But for You.
Therefore You are with me,
In my waiting,
In my hoping,
In my believing.

Never alone in my great wanting,
Satisfied in my enduring,
Tomorrow felt in my longing,
Smiling with every tear.

I am of high and holy cheer,
Certain You are near,
Believing You are darkly here.

©2016 Joann Nelander.

Civilization cica 2016

This came in the mail today:

Subject:Civilization cica 2016

Phones–Wireless
• Cooking – Fireless
• Cars – Keyless
• Food – Fatless
• Tires –Tubeless
• Dress – Sleeveless
• Youth – Jobless
• Leaders – Shameless
• Relationships – Meaningless
• Attitudes–Careless
• Babies – Fatherless
• Feelings–Heartless
• Education–Valueless
• Children–Mannerless
• Country–Godless

We are SPEECHLESS,
Government is CLUELESS,
And our Politicians are WORTHLESS!
Frankly, if I had half a mind I’d be scared Shitless!

All too true? It needn’t be this way. Let’s do what we can to progress with Christ the King leading our nation. Governments and politicians can’t do it, but God can, person to person, one person at a time.

Water of Peace

Jesus, enter the waters of our lives.
As at the Jordan,
You made holy
The water of Baptism,
Renew, in all men of good will,
Life, that flows from the God of Heaven,
Your Father, our Father, my Father.

May Your Holiness
Infuse the elements,
That compose all created things.
By the Water,
Cascading from the Temple,
Your pierced, open, and hallowed Side,
Prepare here a place for all men to abide.
Amen

Copyright 2014 Joann Nelander

The Blood and the Blood

The Blood and the Blood and the Blood!
O, Holy Blood,
Terrible and torrential,
Rain down rivers of Mercy,
To ravage the Defiler,
And assuage the anger of God.

Wash blasphemy from the tongue of Man,
And flood the souls of Men
With grace, pure, lovely, and above nature,
To inundate the depths of humanity,
And carry the Sons and Daughters of God ,
High on baptismal waters
To crest in waves of praise,
And break on heavenly shores,
There to adore the Most adorable,
To love the Most Lovable,
And to glorify the Most Glorious Blood of Jesus, Savior.

(c) 2016 Joann Nelander

Day 2 – The St. Peregrine Novena

Here are the prayers for today:

Day 2 – St. Peregrine Novena for Cancer Patients
(Audio/Video Version)

Dear holy servant of God, St. Peregrine, we pray today for healing.

Intercede for us! God healed you of cancer and others were healed by your prayers. Please pray for the physical healing of…

(Mention your intentions)

These intentions bring us to our knees seeking your intercession for healing.

We are humbled by our physical limitations and ailments. We are so weak and so powerless. We are completely dependent upon God. And so, we ask that you pray for us…

Pray for us, that we will not let sickness bring us to despair.
Pray for us, that we may persevere in hope.

We know, St. Peregrine, that you are a powerful intercessor because your life was completely given to God. We know that in as much as you pray for our healing, you are praying even more for our salvation.

A life of holiness like yours is more important than a life free of suffering and disease. Pray for our healing, but pray even more that we might come as close to Our Lord as you are.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning is now, and ever shall be, world without end.
Amen.

via praymorenovenas.com

Jesus, Haven of My Heart

 

Jesus, I place myself
In the holy confines
Of Your Sacred Heart.
Heart of my heart,
Draw heaven to me.

Surround me with friends
Of Your choosing,

That my mind might be full
Of the conversation of saints.

The world is so much with me.
It is temptress and shallow.
I long for the deep
Of Your thoughts,
To speak peace and refuge
In my wilderness.

You are the haven of my soul,
The Paradise once lost,
But now given
With my Daily Bread

Exile holds no fear
For You surround me.
You are my consolation
And marrow of my bones,
Strength of my strength.

Your Holy Spirit comes to me
And turns my tears to laughter.
In a valley of vanity and pride,
Your Humanity and Humility
Take me by the hand and heart
To lead me home.

©2012 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved

Saint Peregrine Novena for Cancer Patients!

Peace be with you!

Today is the first day of the Saint Peregrine Novena for Cancer Patients!

Saint Peregrine suffered with cancer on his leg and he was told it needed to be amputated. So St. Peregrine turned to the cross and prayed. He did not allow his illness to bring him to despair, but rather it brought him closer to the cross, even through his suffering.

So today, let’s pray for all cancer patients — that their illness will not bring them to despair.
You can also post your personal intentions here: 
http://www.praymorenovenas.com/st-peregrine-novena/#respond

Here are the prayers for today:

Day 1 – St. Peregrine Novena for Cancer Patients
(Audio/Video Version)

Dear holy servant of God, St. Peregrine, we pray today for healing.

Intercede for us! God healed you of cancer and others were healed by your prayers. Please pray for the physical healing of…

(Mention your intentions)

These intentions bring us to our knees seeking your intercession for healing.

We are humbled by our physical limitations and ailments. We are so weak and so powerless. We are completely dependent upon God. And so, we ask that you pray for us…

Pray for us, that we will not let sickness bring us to despair

We know, St. Peregrine, that you are a powerful intercessor because your life was completely given to God. We know that in as much as you pray for our healing, you are praying even more for our salvation.

A life of holiness like yours is more important that a life free of suffering and disease. Pray for our healing, but pray even more that we might come as close to Our Lord as you are.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning is now, and ever shall be, world without end.

Amen.

via pray more novenas

Pope’s Prayer Intention for January

Pope’s Prayer Intention for January

The Baptism of Christ

The Baptism of Christ Ottavio Vannini, c. 1640

From a Sermon by Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, bishop
The baptism of Christ
Christ is bathed in light; let us also be bathed in light. Christ is baptized; let us also go down with him, and rise with him.
John is baptizing when Jesus draws near. Perhaps he comes to sanctify his baptizer; certainly he comes to bury sinful humanity in the waters. He comes to sanctify the Jordan for our sake and in readiness for us; he who is spirit and flesh comes to begin a new creation through the Spirit and water.
The Baptist protests; Jesus insists. Then John says: I ought to be baptized by you. He is the lamp in the presence of the sun, the voice in the presence of the Word, the friend in the presence of the Bridegroom, the greatest of all born of woman in the presence of the firstborn of all creation, the one who leapt in his mother’s womb in the presence of him who was adored in the womb, the forerunner and future forerunner in the presence of him who has already come and is to come again. I ought to be baptized by you: we should also add, “and for you,” for John is to be baptized in blood, washed clean like Peter, not only by the washing of his feet.
Jesus rises from the waters; the world rises with him. The heavens like Paradise with its flaming sword, closed by Adam for himself and his descendants, are rent open. The Spirit comes to him as to an equal, bearing witness to his Godhead. A voice bears witness to him from heaven, his place of origin. The Spirit descends in bodily form like the dove that so long ago announced the ending of the flood and so gives honor to the body that is one with God.
Today let us do honor to Christ’s baptism and celebrate this feast in holiness. Be cleansed entirely and continue to be cleansed. Nothing gives such pleasure to God as the conversion and salvation of men, for whom his every word and every revelation exist. He wants you to become a living force for all mankind, lights shining in the world. You are to be radiant lights as you stand beside Christ, the great light, bathed in the glory of him who is the light of heaven. You are to enjoy more and more the pure and dazzling light of the Trinity, as now you have received – though not in its fullness – a ray of its splendor, proceeding from the one God, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.

Via divine office.org