<blockquote>All thanks and gratitude arise to dance before Your throne.
All praise and honor bow with swelling heart to glorify my God.
Make me a vessel overflowing,
A chalice full of grace willing for the good,
Desiring but one All Holy Love.
© 2013 Joann Nelander</blockquote>
Sing Lord
To make of me a song
Rising on the wind
Spreading throughout the land.
By the movement of Your tune
I proclaim Your Love.
By the rushing of Your Spirit
Borne anew on hallowed wings,
I announce the Year of Favor.
Proclaim
Reclaim. Reclaim.
Reclaim Your own.
Seat sons and daughters
Of Your Love
Upon Your Heart
On Mercy throne.
© 2013 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved
O, Jesus, True God,
Beginning human life
In the womb of Mary,
I come to You in Your first moments,
O powerful Babe.
Mother Mary’s “Fiat”
Brought the Father’s Will to Earth,
Wrapped in the stuff of Man,
Purity’s Flesh emerging as cells divide.
I come to You, God-Man,
In Your holy beginning,
Awaiting, with all creation,
The formation of Your Sacred Heart
In Time.
O, Happy Fruition,
O, Incarnate Son,
In Mary’s virginal womb,
Bless with inner healing
The whole of my life.
Bring to my concupiscence
Conformity to the Father’s Will.
I am the least in my Father’s house,
But by my spiritual visitation,
My willing presence,
In the nascent Being of the Christ,
One, so small and mean as me,
Can find a home
As the Heart of Jesus
Is formed and fired.
O, powerful Babe,
O, pure and holy Fetus,
I trust in You
From Your beginning
As Prophet, Priest and King,
To bring me,
And all creation,
To a happy end.
Amen
Copyright Joann Nelander 2011
All rights reserved
Great book to take into your quiet time:
Mother Mary,
Hold my hand tightly,
As I live my freedom,
As a Child of God.
©2012 Joann Nelander
The day has begun,
And, already,
You have embraced
Your wee one.
I greet You
With the opening
Of my eyes,
With thoughts
That stream anew.
My slumber has brought me
To New Day.
The night was spent
In healing, and a continuity,
That like the day
Follows one unto the other,
Within Your sovereign embrace.
My body leaned
Upon You in trust,
To rise refreshed.
Phantoms of the night
Fled as Your Sun
Rose with purple dawn,
For I place my Trust
In You.
You knit me,
Body, soul and spirit,
Into a unity,
I have known
Since You willed me
Into being.
Unity creating one nature,
Sharing in your dual nature
Of God and Man.
Born of God,
In the Holy Spirit,
I am wed to You
And made ready,
Sun on sun,
For Eternity.
Remembering my frame,
And my need,
Stir into flame
Your Godly Presence,
So that the Bridegroom
Of my Soul
May this day
Take to Himself
The bride He won
From the Cross,
And I ,
Dust of the Earth,
May know the sacred bliss
Of having been chosen.
Being chosen,
And living, in the flesh,
The Life of God.
©2012 Joann Nelander
Still the many veils
Stand between us.
I know they are the weave
Of my concupiscence,
Hanging over my heart,
Weighing the corners
Of my smile,
Hiding me from You
In my shame.
Must I forgive myself
For being other
Than Your Christ?
My imperfection,
And repeated falls
Spoil my high hopes,
But I find them useful as well,
For the crushing of my pride.
The temptation to reign
In the place of God
Is Satan’s prompt,
And plays persistently,
Appealing in its disguise
As progressive,
And Evolution at its finest.
Unveiled before you
In humility
I see my call to be least,
And allow You to reign
Great in me.
Lord, triumph over vain glory,
Accomplish all
The Father’s desires for me,
That my baptismal garment
Of purest white
May appear
In all the colors
Of Your Glory,
God resplendent
Even in His smallest work
And humblest creature.
Heaven’s Feast
I am hungry, Lord.
Yet, it is not my belly
That speaks.
How is it
That You have
Subjected my gut,
And, even my mind
Is Your weaned child,
Yet pangs assail me?
Is it my heart
That desires more?
When You filled me,
I believed I would be
Satisfied forever.
My capacity was full
And overflowing.
As promised,
You made me grow.
My heart expanded
Under Your tutorage,
My life’s blood
Did not suffice.
To meet my heart’s need.
I fed on You,
Body and Blood.
The demand
For Life in me
Kept pace.
Here I am, again,
At Your Table,At Banquet,
With my King.
Thankfully, my Food
Is in steady supply,
And, in that,
I will be nourished,
And hungry no more.
You never deny me.
May I never deny You,
My Host and my Plenty,
Until, at last,
I sup at Heaven’s Feast
For all Eternity.
Crown of Thorns,
Kingship crowned,
Where the diamonds?
Where the gold?
Riverlets of Your Mercy
Covering Holy Face.
Crown of Thorns,
Kingship in rejection,
Shining as diamonds,
Pure as gold,
Blood, all holy,
Innocence dying on a Cross,
Satisfying the Father’s desire
For sons and daughters
Made holy in His Christ,
Now by our willing,
And humble assent.
Crown of Thorns,
Glorious Redeemer,
They kingdom come.
No one would argue
That I exist
And live this day
On Earth.
Yet, I know
That I am with You.
Here in this place
At this Time,
I breathe Heaven’s air
As I pray
“Come Holy Spirit”
And You come,
Bringing Heaven with You
To dwell in the land
You make Your own
And, by grace, call holy.
Here, love and truth meet,
Justice and peace kiss.
Am I not caught
In this embrace?
©2012 Joann Nelander
Immaculata-Patroness
Joann Nelander Studio 