Praying for my loved ones and remembering friends of youth and later life, I began to see how feelings of love welled up within me. God’s love drew me close to Himself and bade me come away with Him. I feared to leave off praying for friend after friend as they came to mind that I leave someone untouched by His Mercy and Grace. Then He came closer still, and filled me now with peace and knowledge. His Spirit whispered to my heart, “Fear not!” He gave me to understand that all these, that I recalled and cherished, all these, I held in my heart and rediscovered with each rising memory, all these were enclosed within my very being, held fast by my love. As His arms embraced me in my prayer to draw me closer, the prayer of my heart for all of these sounded in His ears. For love of me, wretched sinner though I be, He enfolded 
all within His bosom, loving purely and eternally the image of His Son emblazoned upon my soul. He drew all to Himself, knowing, gracing and blessing. He knew them as I knew them of old and also as He finds them now, in the flesh or in the spirit. His grace is fresh and waters the ground of their present. He opens a loving wound in them that invites His love and healing.
prayer
All posts tagged prayer
All I have known
Has possessed me,
The world and the men
Who walk its way.
All I have known
Ruled my heart
And burned on its altars
The wood of my life.
Now, you give me gold,
And open the door
To Your Kingdom,
To enter through my heart
Into Your Heart.
The fire that once
Consumed my wood,
Now, fires the gold You give me
To shape and fashion
A daughter of faith
Alive for You and in You,
Earthy flesh, taking on heaven,
As Your Spirit wants,
And woos and waits,
Upon the handmaiden
Of grace and virtue
You are creating for Yourself
As Bride to the King.
All I now know
Possesses me
For all I know is Thee.
© 2013 Joann Nelander All rights reserved
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.
Copyright 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
Rejoice!
Give me, God,
This glad rejoicing.
I am like a beggar at the gate.
My rags declare my need.
My knock trumpets my desire.
Your courts are full
Of plentiful redemption.
Wine and the merriment
Of the forgiven,
Invite my humble footsteps.
Although I bring myself
To Your threshold,
I cannot enter in,
For Sin is an effrontery,
An open assault on Your Majesty.
All awaits Your mercy.
Heaven is silent before You.
Tears are now my only arraignment
The voice of Your messenger
The only hope in my wilderness.
The King, Himself,
Rises from His throne.
Crowns are cast down at His feet.
As the sun shines from His Being,
Mercy rays meet my eyes,
And melt my heart.
He draws near.
His hand is at the Gate
To let in the beggar and the multitude,
For I am not alone.
The nations,
In long suffering and sorrow,
Kneel with me.
He approaches.
He is near.
Wedding garments in place of our polluted rags,
Rings and sandals for prodigal feet.
He comes,
He comes mid glad rejoicing.
We need wait but a moment.
The Virgin is with Child,
And He has left His throne
To succor the poor of all the earth.
By Joann Nelander
Great book to take into your quiet time:
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
O God, that I may do my part.
All are arrayed for battle.
I am enjoined
Rank and file
In readiness.
Command us!
Vigilant and faith
Unconstrained,
We press forward,
Lean upon You
And desire all that You Are,
Our only rest,
Your consummate End,
With Your Spirit
We praise Your Glory
In the triumphant shout.
Alleluia!
Lord, my tears are plentiful,
As I behold Thee in Thy rest.
Kneeling in poverty of spirit,
I am thrice blessed.
Your forever Union
With our Heavenly Father
Embraces me as the child,
That I am want to be,
Obedient, merciful and mild.
The Holy Spirit of God
Rests upon me,
Gifting me in sorrow for sin,
Raising me above the world,
And lifting me
To the lap of Abba Father,
With You, within.
Here in hallowed Presence,
My tears fall upon the garden,
You plant in my soul,
To water this consecrated plot
Replete with the promised fulfillment
That heals and makes me whole.
Already, but not yet,
Here in seed,
With You in Eternity,
Won by Cross and Passion-Deed.
©2012 Joann Nelander
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