Joann Nelander Studio

Awakening

Posted by Be Holy on April 28, 2015

Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: Catholic, Christian, meditation, mercy, plan, poetry, prayer, religion and spirituality. Leave a comment

You stretch before me
In wondrous expanses.
Where are your limits, O Lord?
Where the measure
That contains Your domain?

The ethereal sky,
Hugging the mountains,
Kissing earth,
And spilling love across its plains,
Proclaims a God of beauty.

Hidden,yet revealed,
In the minuscule and mighty,
You peer from clouds
That radiate streams of Your glory.

You walk the waters,
Stride across mountains,
Blow like desert sands,
Seamlessly knitting terrain,
Texture, color, and contour
In organic harmony,
To announce Your Presence.

A world of darkness
Awakens each morning,
From its chrysalis,
As hope and promise courts
The sons and daughters of Man.

Quarried, cut and polished,
A darkened crystal,
Receives Your Light.
The soul of Man,
Focuses Your splendor,
And by grace,
You shine out in creations’ purpose.

Your Just Sun, O Father,
Crosses the great divide,
To shine on a “no one”,
And “no people”
To stretch before the angels
The measure of Your Mercy.

Joann Nelander
lionessblog.com

You, Before the Altar

Posted by Be Holy on April 27, 2015

Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: adoration, altar, Catholic, Christian, God. Jesus, Jesus, poetry, praise, prayer, religion and spirituality, tabernacle. Leave a comment

Opening my eyes
And lifting my head
From my prayer,
My eyes fell upon you,
My friend.

Your steady gaze
Fixed on the naked Savior,
Your arms crossed
Over your breast
And you,
Lost to this world,
Spoke my prayer.
You, in iconic stature,
Embodied my heart’s cry.

Bowing my soul,
I turned within
To pray with clarity
In humble poverty of spirit,
With Faith’s certainty,
The Lord had heard,
And smiled on my desire.

Rising with my closing “Amen”,
I looked
Only to find your place
Before the altar,
Now abandoned,
Yet the holy sight is seared
On my impressionable spirit.
It lingers still.

Your gifted presence
Shall long capture,
And hold fast
The essence of being
At which I hope to arrive,
In the tabernacle of my heart,
As in pleading it resounds.
Anchored to an image
Of prayerful adoration
Living in my mind’s eye.

My God be adored,
And Your children
Forever graced.

Your Way, My Way

Posted by Be Holy on April 26, 2015

Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: Catholic, choice, Christian, Jesus, Love, ministering, poetry, prayer, religion and spirituality, road, Way. Leave a comment

I wept on the way, O Lord.
Gratitude overwhelmed me,
For I had, at last,
Found my way.

Bending to me,
Your inclination
Gave me courage.
My garments were not pretty,
For a King to gaze upon,
But You saw only me,
Your creature in need.

I stirred Your Passion,
For it was for me
That You searched,
Despite my dishevelment,
You recognized Your Image
Stamped in my being.

You clutched me to Your bosom,
Covered me with Your mantle.
And carried me to the Inn Keeper.

In Your Church,
The treasures You deposited,
Ministered to my wounds.
Deep and resistant,
As the lesions were,
They yielded,
As I lingered long,
In the bed of my sorrow,
Beholding the cause
For my joy.

Your Way is all about me,
Though narrow,
So as to thread
The eye of a needle,
It is like Your broad Smile.

Graced virtue, Your gift,
Accompany me.
The world is as the meadows
Surrounding Your dwelling among men.

Flowers, in due season,
Spring up in my soul,
And fruit, You wait for,
Following the budding
Of my prayer,
Will be rich for Your taking.

I am the love you seek,
And the Love You,
From the beginning,
Have given.
For it is
In Your nature to Love
And in my nature
To be loved.
This is Your Way, my Love.
This is the Way I choose.

Prayer on Leaving Church

Posted by Be Holy on April 24, 2015

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O MOST pitiful Jesus, I give thee thanks for every good gift which Thou hast bestowed on me in this church. And now that I am about to leave it, I offer Thee, in union with Thine Own most perfect prayers, all the prayers and other devotions which I have performed therein; beseeching Thee that Thou wouldst deign to ennoble and perfect them in Thy Divine Heart, to unite them with every holy intention and every feeling of devotion which Thou hast ever elicited from any heart of man, and to offer them to God the Father, for all my negligences and omissions, as a grateful satisfaction and a most acceptable sacrifice: and I implore Thee to grant me that most holy blessing which Thou gavest to Thine Apostles when Thou didst ascend into Heaven, so that by its force and efficacy I may be enabled to persevere in Thy grace, and to serve Thee faithfully ever more. Amen.

Joann Nelander
lionessblog.com

Savior’s Repose

Posted by Be Holy on April 23, 2015

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My dearest Mother,
Take my outstretched hand.
And accompany me,
From moment to moment,
From love of God,
To loving Him evermore purely,
That I may be a heavenly garden,
A place for the Savior’s repose,
In the midst of my everyday,
Until the angels carry me home.

Joann Nelander
lionessblog.com

Kindling and Sacrifice

Posted by Be Holy on April 19, 2015

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Light a fire in my lowly heart
That I may love Thee
More and more.

Accept my straw as kindling.
Ignite me as a sacrifice.
To be consumed.

Breathe on me in the furnace
Of your desires
For this child of Your creation.

Blaze to transform
By grace and Thy Holy Spirit,
My base metal into the finest gold.

Enflame my yearning heart
That love may burst forth,
Forevermore.

Joann Nelander
lionessblog.com

Pour Forth New Day

Posted by Be Holy on April 18, 2015

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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.

Joann Nelander
lionessblog.com

Moments before Dawn

Posted by Be Holy on April 18, 2015

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In these precious moments before dawn
Prepare my waking body and soul
to serve You,
As You served our heavenly Father,
In Your Incarnation.

Dawning in the Virgin’s womb,
Hidden Divinity,
Secret, sacred, Savior,
Announced and served by Angels,
Alive in hallowed Love,
Glorifying Man in Your Mortal Garb,
You are hidden now in me.

Manifest Your glory,
In all humility,
As, yet again,
You dawn anew,
In this heart that longs for You.