A Drop in the Ocean

A drop in the ocean of the Lord,
Minuscule,
Tear-sized,
Hardly felt upon the cheek,
Brushed away
To fall into the river of Your love.

Once alone,
Barely a something,
Really “a nothing”,
A lonely singularity,
But felt upon a Heart.

The tears of others,
Conjoined,
Confusion,
Profusion,
Holy joy in headlong rush,
Whisked over rock and rubble,
Carried by unseen arms,
Pressed on
By force of a Holy Will.

Cascades’ roar arousing fear,
Bewilderment,
Mingled vigor,
Hope rises to the surface
And churns the deep.

Fate creates a splash
And a rivulet of escape,
An instant of choice,
Puddle or precipice?

I hang upon a prayer,
Borne aloft in new fall,
Truly free fall,
Onto the rushing stream,
And weeping humanity prevails.

One drop,
Now millions,
Energy,
Direction,
Momentum,
Kinetic kaleidoscope,
Mirroring Divine power.

The tide of many waters,
Convergence,
At the edge,
And then the fall,
Not like the first,
In free abandonment.

One drop,
Transformed by divine law,
Holy Obedience.
Tumultuous streams
Carve the land without,
And all within.

Fertile flood of holy tears,
Serve now His Plan,
A drop in the ocean of God.

Copyright 2014 Joann Nelander

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Joann Nelander
lionessblog.com

Forever Loving

You are.
You are the great I AM,
Holy and wholly sufficient.

I am in You.
I am of You.
I am for You.

You are Presence.
You are above,
You are without and immanent within.

I am all need.
I am all longing,
Drawing You to my within.

You caress and You cajole.
You mend and make mighty,
The work of Your Hand,
The joy of Your Heart.

Here I am.
Here I abide,
Now weeping, now rejoicing, forever loving.

Copyright 2016 Joann Nelander

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All my hope lies in your great mercy

Via divineoffice.org

From the Confessions of Saint Augustine, bishop
All my hope lies in your great mercy

Where did I find you, that I came to know you? You were not within my memory before I learned of you. Where, then, did I find you before I came to know you, if not within yourself, far above me? We come to you and go from you, but no place is involved in this process. In every place, O Truth, you are present to those who seek your help, and at one and the same time you answer all, though they seek your counsel on different matters.

You respond clearly, but not everyone hears clearly. All ask what they wish, but do not always hear the answer they wish. Your best servant is he who is intent not so much on hearing his petition answered, as rather on willing whatever he hears from you.

Late have I loved you, O beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would not have been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you; now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace.

When once I shall be united to you with my whole being, I shall at last be free of sorrow and toil. Then my life will be alive, filled entirely with you. When you fill someone, you relieve him of his burden, but because I am not yet filled with you, I am a burden to myself. My joy when I should be weeping struggles with my sorrows when I should be rejoicing. I know not where victory lies. Woe is me! Lord, have mercy on me! My evil sorrows and good joys are at war with one another. I know not where victory lies. Woe is me! Lord, have mercy! Woe is me! I make no effort to conceal my wounds. You are my physician, I your patient. you are merciful; I stand in need of mercy.

Is not the life of man upon earth a trial? Who would want troubles and difficulties? You command us to endure them, not to love them. No person loves what he endures, though he may love the act of enduring. For even if he is happy to endure his own burden, he would still prefer that the burden not exist. I long for prosperity in times of adversity, and I fear adversity when times are good. Yet what middle ground is there between these two extremes where the life of man would be other than trial? Pity the prosperity of this world, pity it once and again, for it corrupts joy and brings the fear of adversity. Pity the adversity of this world, pity it again, then a third time; for it fills men with a longing for prosperity, and because adversity itself is hard for them to bear and can even break their endurance. Is not the life of man upon earth a trial, a continuous trial?

All my hope lies only in your great mercy.

All my hope lies in your great mercy

Via divineoffice.org

From the Confessions of Saint Augustine, bishop
All my hope lies in your great mercy

Where did I find you, that I came to know you? You were not within my memory before I learned of you. Where, then, did I find you before I came to know you, if not within yourself, far above me? We come to you and go from you, but no place is involved in this process. In every place, O Truth, you are present to those who seek your help, and at one and the same time you answer all, though they seek your counsel on different matters.

You respond clearly, but not everyone hears clearly. All ask what they wish, but do not always hear the answer they wish. Your best servant is he who is intent not so much on hearing his petition answered, as rather on willing whatever he hears from you.

Late have I loved you, O beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would not have been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you; now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace.

When once I shall be united to you with my whole being, I shall at last be free of sorrow and toil. Then my life will be alive, filled entirely with you. When you fill someone, you relieve him of his burden, but because I am not yet filled with you, I am a burden to myself. My joy when I should be weeping struggles with my sorrows when I should be rejoicing. I know not where victory lies. Woe is me! Lord, have mercy on me! My evil sorrows and good joys are at war with one another. I know not where victory lies. Woe is me! Lord, have mercy! Woe is me! I make no effort to conceal my wounds. You are my physician, I your patient. you are merciful; I stand in need of mercy.

Is not the life of man upon earth a trial? Who would want troubles and difficulties? You command us to endure them, not to love them. No person loves what he endures, though he may love the act of enduring. For even if he is happy to endure his own burden, he would still prefer that the burden not exist. I long for prosperity in times of adversity, and I fear adversity when times are good. Yet what middle ground is there between these two extremes where the life of man would be other than trial? Pity the prosperity of this world, pity it once and again, for it corrupts joy and brings the fear of adversity. Pity the adversity of this world, pity it again, then a third time; for it fills men with a longing for prosperity, and because adversity itself is hard for them to bear and can even break their endurance. Is not the life of man upon earth a trial, a continuous trial?

All my hope lies only in your great mercy.

Eyes of Faith

How do I see?
What am I looking for?

You are Light.
What kind of light?

Science speaks of infrared, ultraviolet,
X-rays and the like.

You speak of faith,
And open our eyes to Your kingdom.

Your kingdom in not of this world
But it is always at hand.

Your Will is being done,
Moment by moment.

You ordain.
You permit.

This is mystery.
Good out of Evil.

Who can accepted it,
And what will acceptance bring?

Kings and the politic tease the poor.
We are that poor.

Promises of peace, food and plenty,
Just more than we have.

How much is enough?
Never enough!

What of their promises,
Mirages of light?

Without eyes the blind stumble,
Grope in the dark.

Your Light
Always Present.

A ladder to heaven.
Angels ascending and descending.

Eyes of Faith,
Light perceived by the soul.

How much is enough?
Where am I going?

How do I see?
Daily the Bread before me.

Rulers come and go.
Who feeds me?

Copyright 2016 Joann Nelander

From the Confessions of Saint Augustine

From the Confessions of Saint Augustine

Via divineoffice.org

Whoever I may be, Lord, I lie exposed to your scrutiny

Lord, you know me. Let me know you. Let me come to know you even as I am known. You are the strength of my soul; enter it and make it a place suitable for your dwelling, a possession without spot or blemish. This is my hope and the reason I speak. In this hope I rejoice, when I rejoice rightly. As for the other things of this life, the less they deserve tears, the more likely will they be lamented; and the more they deserve tears, the less likely will men sorrow for them. For behold, you have loved the truth, because the one who does what is true enters into the light. I wish to do this truth before you alone by praising you, and before a multitude of witnesses by writing of you.

O Lord, the depths of a man’s conscience lie exposed before your eyes. Could anything remain hidden in me, even though I did not want to confess it to you? In that case I would only be hiding you from myself, not myself from you. But now my sighs are sufficient evidence that I am displeased with myself; that you are my light and the source of my joy; that you are loved and desired. I am thoroughly ashamed of myself; I have renounced myself and chosen you, recognizing that I can please neither you nor myself unless you enable me to do so.

Whoever I may be, Lord, I lie exposed to your scrutiny. I have already told of the profit I gain when I confess to you. And I do not make my confession with bodily words, bodily speech, but with the words of my soul and the cry of my mind which you hear and understand. When I am wicked, my confession to you is an expression of displeasure with myself. But when I do good, it consists in not attributing this goodness to myself. For you, O Lord, bless the just man, but first you justify the wicked. And so I make my confession before you in silence, and yet not in silence. My voice is silent, but my heart cries out.

You, O Lord, are my judge. For though no one knows a man’s innermost self except the man’s own spirit within him, yet there is something in a man which even his own spirit does not know. But you know all of him, for you have made him. As for me, I despise myself in your sight, knowing that I am but dust and ashes; yet I know something of you that I do not know of myself.

True, we see now indistinctly as in a mirror, but not yet face to face. Therefore, so long as I am in exile from you, I am more present to myself than to you. Yet I do know that you cannot be overcome, while I am uncertain which temptations I can resist and which I cannot. Nevertheless, I have hope, because you are faithful and do not allow us to be tempted beyond our endurance, but along with the temptation you give us the means to withstand it.

I will confess, therefore, what I know of myself, and also what I do not know. The knowledge that I have of myself, I possess because you have enlightened me; while the knowledge of myself that I do not yet possess will not be mine until my darkness shall be made as the noonday sun before your face.

The Martyr’s Heart.

True to Thee
I want to be,
But, alas,
Sin holds me fast.

Haughty pride of life,
Fear and strife,
Conspire and dismay.
To ruthless havoc play.

Yet, sanctity
Is enmity.
In waters Life-giving You impart
A sinner with a martyr’s heart.

Copyright 2016 Joann Nelander

From the Moral Reflections on Job by Saint Gregory

From the Moral Reflections on Job by Saint Gregory the Great
If we have received good from the hand of the Lord, why should we not endure evil?

When Paul perceived within himself the riches of internal wisdom, yet saw the corruptibility of his own body, he was led to say: We have this treasure in earthen vessels. Now in the blessed Job the earthen vessel felt the gaping sores without, while this treasure of wisdom remained whole and intact within. For outwardly his body was in agony, but inwardly from the treasure of wisdom came forth holy thoughts: If we have received good from the hand of the Lord, why should we not endure evil? The good here refers either to the temporal or to the eternal gifts of God, and the evil to the scourges of the present time, about which the Lord says through the prophet: I am the Lord and there is no other. I form the light and create the darkness. I make peace and create evil.

I form the light and create the darkness, for though outwardly these scourges create the darkness of anguish, inwardly knowledge enkindles the light in the mind. I make peace and create evil, for peace with God is restored to us when those things which were rightly created for us, but are not ordinarily desired, are turned into scourges and become evil for us. It is through sin that we become opposed to God; therefore, it is fitting that we should return to his peace by way of scourges. In this manner, when everything created for good is turned into a source of pain for us, the mind of the chastened man may be humbly renewed and restored to peace with his Creator.

We ought particularly to observe in Job’s words how skillfully he meets his wife’s persuading: If we have received good from the hand of the Lord, why should we not endure evil? It is a great comfort in tribulation if, in times of adversity, we recall the gifts our Creator has given us. Nor will overwhelming sorrow break us, if we quickly call to mind the gifts which have sustained us. For it is written: On the day of prosperity do not forget affliction, and on the day of affliction do not forget prosperity. For if a man receives God’s gifts, but forgets his affliction, he can fall through his own excessive joy. On the other hand, when a man is bruised by scourges, but is not at all consoled by the thought of the blessings he has been fortunate to receive, he is completely cast down.

Thus both attitudes must be united so that one may be supported by the other: the memory of the gift can temper the pain of the affliction, and the foreboding and fear of the affliction can modify the joy of the gift. And so the holy Job, to soothe his soul’s depression in the midst of his wound, weighs the delightful gifts he has received even while he suffers from the scourges, saying: If we have received good from the hand of the Lord, why should we not endure evil?

Chairman Chaffetz Opener – Criminal Aliens Released by the Department of…

https://youtu.be/2QOwAJ2ez6U

Enjoy your transgender bathrooms. We just lost America. | NewBostonPost

(Adobe stock photo)Source: Enjoy your transgender bathrooms. We just lost America. | NewBostonPost

Radio Interview: Dr. David Prentice Explains the Science of Fetal Pain – Charlotte Lozier Institute

On May 12, 2015, David A. Prentice, Ph.D., Vice President and Research Director of the Charlotte Lozier Institute, was invited to speak on the science of fetal pain on Points of View radio talk show. On May 13, 2015 the United States House of Representatives passed the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. The full transcript is here.

Source: Radio Interview: Dr. David Prentice Explains the Science of Fetal Pain – Charlotte Lozier Institute

Robert Spencer in FrontPage: Huffington Post Calls on Christians to Recognize Muhammad as a Prophet

https://www.jihadwatch.org/2016/05/robert-spencer-in-frontpage-huffington-post-calls-on-christians-to-recognize-muhammad-as-a-prophet

The Crusades Were a Reasonable Response to Unchecked Islamic Aggression by Angelo Stagnaro

by Angelo Stagnaro

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/astagnaro/the-crusades-were-a-reasonable-response-to-unchecked-islamic-aggression/#ixzz499QNCaLP

Ohio Islamic State Cell Slipped Under the Radar

by RYAN HEALY May 19, 2016

An NBC News report listed 15 Americans with connections to the Islamic State (IS), including a cell featuring three residents of Columbus, Ohio . The names were connected to a flash drive that former IS member Abu Mohammaed stole when he defected from IS. While most of the names were known to law enforcement these three had successfully left America to join IS undetected. The three IS members were identified as Jaffrey Khan, Zakia Nasrin, and Rasel Raihan.

Nasrin was described as a promising student whose family immigrated from Bangladesh in 2000. She graduated valedictorian of her senior class at Metro Early College High School and enrolled at Ohio State University as a pre-med major. Nasrin’s family says she met Khan online and married him in 2010. Jaffrey was the son of immigrant parents who moved to Palo Alto but divorced when he was still young.

Khan had always struggled in school and in life according to his father, Salem Khan, who runs a multi-million dollar healthcare IT business. friends say that the younger Khan became a devout Muslim, and according to family members shortly after began to espouse anti-American sentiment. ” Khan’s family noticed he was very strict with his new bride making her wear a hijab and veil cover her face. Ahmed Khan the cousin to Khan noted he made all men leave the room if Nasrin was present, or Khan made her sit in the car.

They returned to Columbus and moved into an apartment on Riverview Drive just north of Ohio State University.

According to Terrorism investigator Patrick Poole, Riverview had been previously connected to a case of terrorism in 2007, when Christopher Paul was arrested and charged with helping al-Qaeda bomb makers with identifying potential targets in the United States (U.S.) and Europe. Paul was given a 20-year prison sentence; his wife though still lives in the building, and claims she did not know Nasrin or Khan.

Poole notes that according to the apartment complex’s landlord of the apartment complex, several residents worshipped at the nearby Omar Ibn al-Kattab mosque, which has a history of being tied to Islamic terrorism. The board of the mosque admitted that Jaffrey had attended the mosque for several weeks before disappearing. Other notable terrorism related cases tied to Omar Ibn al-Kattab mosqueinclude Iyman Faris who in 2003 attempted to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge and Nuradin Abdiplotted to blow up a Columbus shopping mall in 2007. Abdulhakim Muhammad who shot and killed a U.S. service man in Arkansas admitted to attending the Omar Ibn al-Kattab mosque from 2006-2007.

Nasrin’s brother Rasel Raihan was also an outstanding student at Metro. Raihan reportedly greatly admired his older sister and even told a friend she “guides me right from wrong.” A friend of Raihan’s noted that after Rasel talked with his sister he stopped taking his medication and immediately became a devout Muslim. After graduation friends say that Raihan disappeared and they never saw him again.

Khan was placed on a terror watch list by the FBI when an informant notified authorities that Khan had traveled abroad and might be involved with jihadists. Khan, Nasir, and Raihan crossed the Turkey-Syrian border near Tal Abyad in July 2014. Khan took the name Abu Ibrahim al-Amriki and Raihan took the name Abu Abdullah al-Amriki. Raihan is believed to have been killed fighting for IS, and Khan and his wife are reportedly working in a hospital in Raqqa and have a daughter.

Once again jihadists have been previously identified (and placed on the terror watch list) despite still being able to successfully complete their goals. It also notes the impact of continued effort to divorce individual jihad supporters from wider networks of support and indoctrination.

Ryan Healy writes for the Center for Security Policy

The Embrace

Clutching You to my heart,
My sins before me,
I make Your Death,
My dying,
And find my life.

You give Yourself to me.
You give Yourself for me.
I hold Your cold,
Your bruised and bloodless Body
As I pray.

Wiping the spittle from Your Face,
I behold the Man,
My sins before me always,
I cling to Your Words.
“Father forgive.”

Copyright 2016 Joann Nelander

Living Now

I live because You died,
Not in guilt,
But in the freedom of Love.

Choices are arrayed before me,
Multiplied by the days of my Life.
With the breaking
Of each New Day,
I rise forever
To choose You,

With the breaking
Of the Bread,
With the Lifting Up,
With the Cross before my eyes
I am a witness
Of the Resurrected One.

You Christ upon the altar,
You, Christ, living anew
In me,
Walk the Earth again
Leaving now my footsteps.

©2012 Joann Nelander

Muslims Don’t Assimilate – They Infiltrate

Muslims don’t assimilate, they infiltrate

by LAWRENCE SELLIN, PHD May 11, 2016

Let us first, dispense with the pretense.

Every notion we in the West have adopted in terms of dealing with Muslims, both individually and collectively, is wrong.

It is a policy based more on political correctness than on rational analysis, more on a misunderstanding of culture than religion.

The term “Islamophobia” was invented and promoted in the early 1990s by the International Institute for Islamic Thought, a front group of the Muslim Brotherhood. It was designed as a weapon to advance a totalitarian cause by stigmatizing critics and silencing them, similar to the tactics used by the political left, when they hurl the accusations of “racist,” “sexist,” “homophobe” and “hate-speech.”

It became the role of Islamist lobby organizations like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) to depict themselves as civil-rights groups speaking out on behalf of a Muslim American population that was allegedly besieged by outsiders who harbored an illogical, unfounded fear of them and regularly accusing the American people, American institutions, law-enforcement authorities, and the U.S. government of harboring a deep and potentially violent prejudice against Muslims. Of course, FBI data on hate crimes show that such allegations are nonsense.

Contrary to the propaganda, Islamophobia is not what Muslims feel, but what radical Muslims hope to instill politically and culturally in non-Muslims cultures, that is, intimidation and fear. Thereby, they can, not only further their goal of a global Caliphate, but gain a type of “respect” to which they would otherwise not be entitled based on an absence of convincing arguments or constructive contributions to society.

Danish psychologist, Nicolai Sennels, who treated 150 criminal Muslim inmates found fundamental and largely irreconcilable psychological differences between Muslim and Western culture, which makes effective assimilation at best serendipity and at worst urban myth.

For example, Muslim culture has a very different view of anger. In Western culture, expressions of anger and threats are probably the quickest way to lose face leading to a feeling of shame and a loss of social status. In Muslim culture, aggressive behaviors, especially threats, are generally seen to be accepted, and even expected as a way of handling conflicts.  ( * Cmt:  Absolutely true.)

In the context of foreign policy, peaceful approaches such as demonstrations of compassion, compromise and common sense are seen by Muslim leaders as cowardice and a weakness to be exploited. In that respect, anger and violence are not reasons to begin negotiations, but are integral components of the negotiation process itself.  ( *Cmt:  Also true as is duplicity )

According to Sennels, there is another important psychological difference between Muslim and Western cultures called the “locus of control,” whether people experience life influenced by either internal or external factors.

Westerners feel that their lives are mainly influenced by inner forces, our ways of handling our emotions, our ways of thinking, our ways of relating to people around us, our motivations, and our way of communicating; factors that determine if we feel good and self-confident or not.

In Muslim culture, however, inner factors are replaced by external rules, traditions and laws for human behavior. They have powerful Muslim clerics who set the directions for their community, dictate political views, and provide rules for virtually all aspects of life.

The locus of control is central to the individual’s understanding of freedom and responsibility. When Westerners have problems, we most often look inward and ask “What did I do wrong?” and “What can I do to change the situation?” Muslims look outward for sources to blame asking: “Who did this to me?” Sennels noted that a standard answer from violent Muslims is often: “It is his own fault that I beat him up (or raped her). He (or she) provoked me.”  (*Cmt: Not matter what happens they say “Allah wills”  — they had no control over what they did.) 

As a result, Muslim culture offers a formula for perpetual victimhood.  ( *Cmt: the LEFT and Muslims have victimhood in common)

With a decrease in feelings of personal responsibility, there is a greater tendency to demand that the surroundings adapt to Muslim wishes and desires, infiltrating rather than to assimilating into a Western culture.  (*Cmt: More than that the Quran demands they do so)

All of this does not bode well for the logic of any proposal to increase Muslim immigration into non-Muslim cultures or the success of any foreign policy involving Muslim nations by applying current Islamophobia-based misconceptions.

Sennels offers a harsh, but realistic prescription:

“We should not permit the destruction of our cities by lawless parallel societies, with groups of roaming criminal Muslims overloading of our welfare system and the growing justified fear that non-Muslims have of violence. The consequences should be so strict that it would be preferable for any anti-social Muslim to go back to a Muslim country, where they can understand, and can be understood by their own culture.”  

It is not from  ” Islamophobia “  that we suffer , but from “Islamonausea”, a natural reaction to something culturally abnormal.

Bit of Legislative History: McCarran-Walter Act of 1952.

Seems the Donald isn’t alone: “McCarran and Walter were Democrats and this act was utilized by Jimmy Carter, no less, in 1979 to keep Iranians out of the United States …but he actually did more.He made all Iranian students already here check in, and then he deported a bunch”

From Dick Roberts

Very interesting Bit of Legislative History:  McCarran-Walter Act of 1952.

Donald Trump was recently severely criticized for suggesting that the U.S. should limit or temporarily suspend the immigration of certain ethnic groups, nationalities, and  people of certain religions (Muslims)  — actually a facist ideology masquerading as a religion.  The criticisms condemned his  suggestion as   “Un-American,” dumb, stupid, reckless, dangerous and racist.  Congressmen and Senators swore that they would never allow such legislation, and Obama called such a prohibition on immigration unconstitutional (as if, all of a sudden, he gives a damn about the Constitution).

“Surprise, Surprise!!!”  It seems that the selective immigration ban is already law and has been applied on several occasions.  The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, a.k.a., the McCarran-Walter Act allows for the “Suspension of entry or imposition of restrictions by the president (something which we haven’t had for the past seven and a half years).  Whenever the president finds that the entry of aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, the president may, by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate.”

Note that McCarran and Walter were Democrats and this act was utilized by Jimmy Carter, no less, in 1979 to keep Iranians out of the United States …but he actually did more.  He made all Iranian students already here check in, and then he deported a bunch.  Seven thousand were found in violation of their visas, 15,000 Iranians were forced to leave the United States in 1979. You won’t hear a word about this from the liberal media, propaganda machine.

It is of note that the act requires that an applicant for immigration ”must be of good moral character” and “attached to the principles of the Constitution.”  Since the Quran forbids Muslims to swear allegiance to the U.S. Constitution, technically, all Muslims should be refused immigration.

Authenticated at http://library.uwb.edu/static/USimmigration/1952_immigration_and_nationality_act.html

Make of Me a Vessel

Lord , make of me, a vessel,
Filled to over-flowing with my God.
Transform my water,
That becoming wine,
I may be poured out
At His will and direction,
As medicine and libation,
For body, mind and soul,
Ever joyful in purity,
And grateful in thanksgiving.
Amen.

©2012 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved

Moments of Grace

Prepare me , O Lord,
During those moments of awe,
Even if hampered
By sleep or confusion,
Presumption, even ignorance,
As we’re Peter,John, and James
On the mountain
Of Your Transfiguration.

Prepare me for the work
With which You grace me,
In the valley of the world.

Let me remember
Of the mountain experience,
Your Love and Your Glory.
Water the seed of my baptismal faith
With the fresh water
From Your pieced side.

Be as the dew fall
On the grass of my awakening.
Honor the tears of Mother Mary,
As she looked on You,
In the Hour of Your glorification
On the Cross,
To weep with you for me.
Awe struck, I live to praise You.

Copyright 2012 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved

One Last Prayer

If I should die today,
What have I to say?
Perhaps just one last prayer.

Grant that my heart
Should leap and quicken,
Catching sight of You
Coming from afar.

With Your Father,
You have wooed, and waited,
Sent Your Spirit
Into my dry bones,
Raising me from dust
Once again
And, now, forevermore.

Here I am, my Hallowed three.
The Bridegroom cometh;
Come for me.

(c) 2012 Joann Nelander

Pope Francis: Many ‘mummified’ or ‘vagabond’ Christians. – Vatican Radio

Stressing that Jesus is the only true way, Pope Francis said there are many following Christianity in a confused way such as the motionless and mummified Christian, the vagabond Christian, the stubborn Christian or the half way Christian.

Source: Pope Francis: Many ‘mummified’ or ‘vagabond’ Christians. – Vatican Radio

The Evidence for God from Contemporary Physics" by Fr. Robert J. Spitzer, S.J. – YouTube

Fractalfest – Video

Jim Caviezel Testimony (Actor Who Played Jesus in The Passion of the Christ Film)

I would have preferred that he say that God wants all of you in Heaven,and His mercy is awaiting your free will acceptance of His invitation, rather than his blanket amnesty and presumptive statement of heaven for all. Still well worth listening.

The Heaven of Your Heart

Come blessed Spirit
Of my Jesus
Guide me for Truth’s sake.

Lead me,
According to Your Promises,
To streams of Mercy,
Following with the Blood and Water.

In this Living Font,
The heaven of Your Heart,
May heart my sing,
My spirit soar,
And my face shine,

Copyright 2016 Joann Nelander

Seeing Jesus

Jesus, Haven of My Heart

Jesus, I place myself
In the holy confines20110914-035209.jpg
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

Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill Laughing Hysterically

Defending the Faith – Patrick Madrid