O’ God our Creator,
Through the power and working of your Holy Spirit, you call us to live our faith in the midst of the world, bringing the Light and the saving Truth of the Gospel to every corner of society.
We ask you to bless us in our vigilance for the gift of religious liberty, Give us the strength of mind and heart to readily defend our freedoms when they are threatened; give us courage in making our voices heard on behalf of the rights of your Church and the freedom of conscience of all people of faith.
Grant, we pray, O heavenly Father, a clear and united voice to all your sons and daughters gathered in your Church in this decisive hour in the history of our nation, so that, with every trial withstood and every danger overcome—for the sake of our children, our grandchildren, and all who come after us—this great land will always be “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
Uncategorized
A call to prayer for our great nation by our bishops has gone forth. Now it is for the people to pray.
H/T USCCB
The fourteen days from June 21—the vigil of the Feasts of St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More—to July 4, Independence Day, are dedicated to this “fortnight for freedom”—a great hymn of prayer for our country. Our liturgical calendar celebrates a series of great martyrs who remained faithful in the face of persecution by political power—St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More, St. John the Baptist, SS. Peter and Paul, and the First Martyrs of the Church of Rome. Culminating on Independence Day, this special period of prayer, study, catechesis, and public action will emphasize both our Christian and American heritage of liberty. Dioceses and parishes around the country have scheduled special events that support a great national campaign of teaching and witness for religious liberty.
Vigilance
O, Trinity, mine,
As I am Thine,
Indwelling with sacred flame,
Dispatch as for battle
Angels and Archangels,
Sword in hand.
Penetrate my darkness,
Infiltrate clandestine deceptions
Masquerading as light.
Pull down cruel strongholds,
Erected by Minion’s guile,
Surreptitious and in disguise.
Where blindness
Has made me vulnerable,
Where folly
Has let down my guard,
Where allurement
Has entrapped me,
Give power, sword and wing,
To Your Michael.
Bid him ride the dawn
To stand arrayed for the frey,
Here by my side.
Bright Angel of Truth,
Mount ye,
Who Is Like God,
Ever upward,
Empowered by my prayer,
Whispered in th Name,
All Hallowed.
Hashem, do You battle,
Vanquish the hidden
Enemies of my soul,
By my union,
In Your Death.
By my Baptism,
Let Your Blood
Cry out as Your Able,
From the ground
Of my being.
Give Life ever new.
In Your rest,
Empty Tomb,
Witness in me,
By Eucharistic grace,
The triumph of Your Resurrection.
© 2012 Joann Nelander
Seek grace before bliss.
To seek bliss,
Is to seek the gift
May be to shun the Giver.
Who conjures dreams matters.
My pleasure may spring
From forbidden springs.
Before I entrust
Myself to gods,
Should I not seek
To discern truth
From Truth.
Come, come,
O, kind Spirit of Truth,
Though You contradict my way,
I promise to obey,
Clad in Your grace,
Day by day.
©2012 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved
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
I press my ear
To Your Heart, my Jesus.
With the beating rhythm,
That bounds within Your Breast,
My Spirit takes wing,
And rushes to Your Side,
That pierced and open side,
That Gate of Heaven.
“Enter,” You invite.
Leaving without my fear,
I enter in.
I am all ear,
You, all Heart
And Fire,
A furnace of Love.
My spirit faints
With longing.
A voice of spirit
Reassures and comforts.
In flight,
My soul alights,
Coming to rest,
As coming home.
You have always
Known me.
In an instant,
I know You,
And, only now,
Know me,
In consummate repose.
Glowing, two hearts beating as one,
Union of spirit,
Mine yielding to Yours,
To become truly myself.
Complete and Resplendent,
As the dawn of New Day,
Colored by a thousand rainbows,
Breaking ranks
And melting,
In a perfusion of light,
Dancing across my soul,
Reverberating, throughout the Universe,
In happy harmony.
O, Hallowed One,
We now are Three,
Your completeness
Embraces me.
I know all of heaven,
In knowing Thee.
Heaven has made room for me,
A sacred chamber,
And a mansion,
Raised in Your Rising in me.
I hear my new name
And am transfigured,
As You speak it.
Cor ad cor loquitor.
Copyright 2012 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved
There is a delicacy of old
With which men speak to one another.
Though, approaching from the farthest ends,
Never meeting in the middle,
Yet, do they honor one another,
In their humanity.
They offer the gift of presence,
Gifting to the other
An open ear
That wills to hear.
To do the Good
For the sake of Good,
To forge the best of thought
For presentation at the gate
Is the beginning of our holy end.
Though all men be wrong
In varying degrees,
There is something right
In putting down one’s arms
To meet as warring friends,
In hope and trust
That they serve a higher call,
When men do speak of peace.
Who is honored by this respect,
If not the Maker of all Men,
Who alone can change
Hearts of stone to flesh,
Becoming like unto His own.
©2011 Joann Nelander
O, Holy Fetus,
One cell, two cells,
Cell upon cell,
You took shape,
Within the Virgin’s womb.
O Holy Child,
Born to die,
You were born in Bethlehem
City of Promise,
But conceived in Nazareth,
Crossroad of sinners,
Now graced
By the Holy.
Cell upon cell,
Grace upon grace,
The Virgin’s
“Fiat”
Alleluia!
Copyright Joann Nelander 2012
All rights reserved
In flight
Into Egypt
Hungry,
Hurried,
Yet at peace.
You pass my way.
Because you are holy
We are worlds apart.
Yet you touch me
By your plight.
You must eat.
You must drink.
Rest a moment
Under my tent.
Holy visitors,
Let me wash your feet.
Your smiles
Enter my heart
As a symphony
Stay the night.
Bring the star
From heaven
To light my adobe.
Dwell forever
Here in Spirit
Though you must hurry
On your way.
Journey on,O, Protector,
O Mother, O Child.
With me,
In your hearts,
Now, I wait
For you forever.
I tucked a little rattle
Under His blanket.
Perhaps, He’ll hear me
In the sounds,
A remembrance,
Like a prayer,
In the rattling of beads.
By Joann Nelander
Joann Nelander Studio 