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Saints have prayed prayers,
Prayers hanging over Time,
Still being answered:
“God protect Your Church.”
“God spare Your People.”
“God forgive Sin.”
“God make holy.”
“God preserve and enlighten.”
Prayers that never end
Prayers forever answered.
by Joann Nelander
You looked down
From Your Cross
To behold faithfulness.
There stood Your Mother.
You beheld her look of grief,
Her suffering Your pain.
You wed it
To Your Own,
Presenting all
Before Our Father’s holy throne.
© 2013 Joann Nelander
He rides the Wind in power and right,
Born of Eternal Light.
All goodness follow in His train,
Like comet tails, falling stars,
That fire my night.
Here light upon my soul and nest,
As spirit bird, find place of rest,
Spreading feathered wing
As shelter, and friend,
To Godly bless.
Stirring, fan the embers of my love,
To blaze anew in fire from above
Transforming dust and dross,
To forge one who walks
Amongst the flame, O Holy Dove.
©2013 Joann Nelander
Eons marked in time, an ocean drop by drop
Faith tested to the nth, suddenly to be here
Sand through an hour glass, seeds promising the crop
Eons marked in time, an ocean drop by drop
Cathartic rhythms purging like the wild hop
You wanted wine, we gave you beer
Eons marked in time, an ocean drop by drop
Faith tested to the nth, suddenly to be here
©2013 Joann Nelander
Your people praise you, O Lord.
As points of light,
Scattered about
The surface of the Earth.
Together with angelic choirs,
That dot the firmament,
Your children sing.
With fish, and bird,
With rivers and seas,
With mountains,
And heavenly heights,
Creation sings in chorus,
Affirmation,
Acclamation,
And affection,
In sanctifying hosannas,
That fall as bountiful rain,
To water man and beast
With fruitful exaltation,
Multipling our delight,
As we magnify our God.
We are your mothers,
Fathers, sisters,
Brothers, friends
Of Your fold,
Returning praise,
And worship due
The Most High Lord
Of all creation.
In Your Light we
Become Your Light.
© 2012 Joann Nelander
It seems…
I am always talking to You,
That I am always with You,
And have no doubt
You are with me,
Listening and silent.
I am an endless monologue.
You, hovering Spirit,
Wordlessly eloquent
Abide.
You are Presence and Truth,
Listening and silent,
Thunderously silent,
Save for the stirring of my heart,
And the sometime rush of thought,
Coming, as it were,
From the bowels of my being
With frightening conviction,
And challenging my reticence
To speak aloud
The thoughts of solitude.
Reluctant always
To go about,
And leave the cloister of my heart,
Where in Your chambers I find,
And hold dear,
Private audience with the King,
The world without is a noisy charade,
And woos the pride of me take center stage.
Where suddenly I realize
I have been talking much, too much,
To my regret.
I, naggingly, suspect
I have diminished
What was my treasure
And ceased to learn.
Cacophony of me,
I cease to learn,
And simply rearrange,
That with which I am familiar.
Where do prophet, poet and a would be recluse
Find voice if not in You,
Rejecting even audience
To find You in my silence,
Your silence?
©2012 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved
The least of Your children, O Lord,,
Can bring forth fruit one hundred fold.
Such is the mystery of grace and love
Planted in a willing heart.
By Joann Nelander
A Nation cries,
In want of Thee.
Time hurries,
All the while consuming,
That which our hands have built.
Our plenty devoured
In furnaces of desire.
“More, give us more,
The engines roar. ”
You wait,
That we might recognize
Your reign.
Your sun rises on each new day.
You are patient.
Wait, wait, wait….
Obedience is not our way.
We turn only blind eyes
And misprize chastisement’s scourge.
We know only
The gates of Hell demand,
Demand our sacrifice,
Human sacrifice.
We do not deny them.
No place too sacred to invade.
Give the gods their due,
For they pay our way.
After all, we are only clay,
Living to be merry
One more day.
You, O Holy One,
Speak of Love and Eternity.
Our bellies cry out “Now”
“Who needs Your Throne!”
Give us bread without God Alone.
Our way,
Just one more day.
©2012 Joann Nelander All rights reserved
Mary, Mother,
Grace-filled vessel,
Poised throughout your life
To receive God’s word.
Always listening,
By obedience wooing,
From your holy infancy,
Caressing to your heart
The holy Word of God.
You conceived in your heart
Our God eternal,
Before He entered
Your virginal womb.
Grace upon grace
Your beauty unfolded,
In blossom so rare,
Upon this Earth.
Season upon season,
You moved in silence hidden,
In prayer secure.
O Mary Mother,
With kiss so sweet,
lavish upon me
Thy Holy Maternity.
I entrust to your sublimity
My formation within my mother’s womb.
Make happy that dear chamber,
In which my life and love
Were bequeathed and body grown.
“Behold your Mother,”
He said from His Cross.
Now, do I behold you,
And take you to my heart.
Speak here the words
You whispered in Christ’s ear
As He laid his little head
Upon your breast.
Jesus received from you
Milk and kindness
With gentle regard.
Caress now my humanity.
Make me ever your home,
As I welcome you to my soul,
Make me your hearth,
With fires burning bright.
Purify my moments
And sanctify my soul.
By virtue,
Virtue of your wedded Spouse,
Petition the Holy Spirit of Your Son.
Send angels, as you once did stewards,
To wait upon the words of your Son.
Miracles followed
On your behest at Cana.
I wait now and ever in your arms,
Embraced as the Christ Child.
Look upon me, dear Mother
And heal my wounded yet happy heart.
By Joann Nelander
Jesus,
Everyday, everyday, everyday,
Fall upon my tongue
As dew upon the obedient grass,
Which yields to Your Wind,
To be proclaimed anew.
Holy One,
Forever, forever, forever,
Go forth from my mouth,
As spring rains
To water the parched earth,
Thirsty for You.
©2013 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved
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