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Heart Afire

Posted in Art, Catholic, Christ, Christian, Church, devotion, Holy Spirit, Poetry, Prose & Prayer with tags , , , , , , , , , on April 3, 2012 by Joann

Jesus, Heart Afire,
Furnace blazing,
Fueled by Love,
Burning without consuming,
Radiant heat,
And all pervading.

Soul, drawn to escape
The hell of Darkness,
With an exchange
Of holy vows.
Free to flee,
Though enraptured
By superior desire.

Created One,
Of two natures,
Once at peace,
Fallen, then to warring,
Barred from Eden’s gate.

Blazing Promise
And Redemption,
Offering Sin’s undoing,
Constant in Your wooing.

Creat anew,
As once in Paradise,
Purified and restored
Exceeding recognition.
Raised beyond perfection,
Melted, purged,
Merged, and welded,
Seamless life as Mother’s garment.
To live now
In Thee,
For Thee,
Through Thee.
Knowing All
In knowing Thee.

Two natures,
Now at Peace
Both lost,
And found,
In Loving Thee.

Copyright Joann Nelander 2011

All rights reserved

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P.S.

Posted in My Journal with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 27, 2012 by Joann

A Man Clothed in Sin

A man clothed in sin
Walked the long aisle
To stand before the Crucifix.

Long years,
No tears,
He came to say,
“You died for me,
And I don’t give a damn!”

The hardened before the Hallowed,
The clock running down,
Time spent and unreflected,
Deeds done and unrepentant.

Challenged to say the words,
He began,
“You died for me,
And I don’t give…”

Undaunted, he repeated,
“You died for me
And I don’t…..”
Gaze focused
On that bloodied Corpse,
Resolute, again, he began.
“You died for me…”
…….
“You died for me…”
“You died for me!”

Tears, tears,
Rivers of tears,
Years unspent,
And now in flood.

Miracles at the Red Sea,
Yet, none greater
Than the Passover,
One innocent Lamb,
Slain, and yet standing,
Lifted up,
Drawing thee.

© 2012 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved

Inspired by another story :

MONDAY, 6 AUGUST 2007

Cardinal Lustiger RIP 1926-2007


I didn’t always agree with the former Archbishop of Paris, Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, who died yesterday, but his tenure of that see brought a great deal more good than harm, I think. On his watch, the Catholic life of the city gained a huge boost; the new movements revitalized many parishes, and vocations to the priesthood soared. I remember that he habitually celebrated Mass in Notre Dame almost every Sunday evening for the young people who came to that Mass; a great example to the other bishops of France, many of whom are facing the priestly extinction of their dioceses.
I heard a story attributed to him—maybe it is one he told rather than a story about himself (since he himself was a Jewish convert). I was given to understand that the story is a true one.
Two boys were, out of mischief, determined to tease their parish priest, so they went to confession and made up outrageous sins, just to see what the priest would say. The priest, listening to the second boy, realizing that he was being ‘had’, and hurt by the mockery of the sacrament, asked the second lad as a ‘penance’ to go to the crucifix over the tabernacle and shout out loud, three times ‘you died for me, and I don’t give a damn’. The lad did as he was asked; by the third time he was in tears. Some years later, he was ordained a priest.
May Jean-Marie Lustiger rest in peace.

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A Man Clothed in Sin

Posted in Art, Catholic, Christ, Christian, Faith, Poetry, Prose & Prayer with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 27, 2012 by Joann

A man clothed in sin
Walked the long aisle
To stand before the Crucifix.

Long years,
No tears,
He came to say,
"You died for me,
And I don’t give a damn!"

The hardened before the Hallowed,
The clock running down,
Time spent and unreflected,
Deeds done and unrepentant.

Challenged to say the words,
He began,
"You died for me,
And I don’t give…"

Undaunted, he repeated,
"You died for me
And I don’t….."
Gaze focused
On that bloodied Corpse,
Resolute, again, he began,
"You died for me…"
…….
"You died for me…"
"You died for me!"

Tears, tears,
Rivers of tears,
Years unspent,
And now in flood.

Miracles at the Red Sea,
Yet, none greater
Than the Passover,
One innocent Lamb,
Slain, and yet standing,
Lifted up,
Drawing thee.

© 2012 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved

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The Visit

Posted in Art, Catholic, Christ, Christian, Faith, Poetry, Prose & Prayer, Religion, Scripture with tags , , , , , , , , , on March 24, 2012 by Joann

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

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Apple of Your Eye

Posted in Catholic, Christ, Christian, Lent, Prayer & Prose, Religion, Spiritual with tags , , , , , , on March 16, 2012 by Joann

You, the indwelling God of the faithful,
Have called me
"The apple of Your eye",
Look, therefore,
Out upon my world,
And bless those about me,
Good and bad.

Bless them not,
Because I see and intercede,
But because You see,
And, beholding their misery,
Reach out.

 
Being that You are Compassion,
Change my world,
Person by person,
Day by day.

See through me,
As the pupil of Your eye.
Use me as Your window
On my world.

Your Presence in me
Is as the Sun in the heavens,
Shining out,
And penetrating even the clouds
I place in Your way.

"In Your Light,
We see Light. "



Copyright Joann Nelander 2011
All rights reserved

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Your Saints in Glory

Posted in Catholic, Christ, Christian, Faith, Poetry, Prose & Prayer with tags , , , , , , , , , on March 11, 2012 by Joann

At the moment
You lift Your saintly friends
From the Earth,
And plant them
In the Heaven of Your Being,
At that precious moment,
And by that fateful act,
You endow
The sons and daughters
Of Your Covenant,
Remaining in this world,
With more,
Not less.

When Your friends
Journey forth,
All the Earth
Is, henceforth, blessed,
And not, otherwise,
Disposed or deprived.

As Your Servants,
Enter Your Realms of Light,
Their charisms become infinite,
In their capacity to bless.

When the smallest of the small
Cries out,
In the name of Your forever Friends,
These other Christs
Answer with Your power to succor.

In the Now of Your Essence,
They share Your Glory.
In Heaven,
There is only one glory,
Which cannot increase.
United to You,
Who, are unchanging,
This new rain falls to
the Earth,
And it’s consenting
creatures, here,
Can and do change,
In the shower
Of Your abundant dew fall.

We are, henceforth,
The beneficiaries of new riches,
Streaming from Your Side,
The Door, by which Your saints
Entered Eternity.

Glory upon glory falls,
As golden droplets,
Upon the land
Of sunrise and sunset.

Your gifts do not cease
With the death
Of those who are Yours.
Heaven is united to earth,
And in the celebration
Of their new birth,
Rejoices.

©2012 Joann Nelander

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The Detained

Posted in Catholic, Christian, Faith, Lent, Spirituality with tags , , , , , , , on March 9, 2012 by Joann

Who has died and gone to the side of Christ,

That does not make intercession,

For all the people

He has failed in life?

 

Who can stand in Purgatory’s flame,

And cease to cry out

For loved ones

Left in Time?

 

God hears the cry of the poor,

And who is poorer

Than the abandoned,

And detained at the threshold of Heaven,

Awaiting the forgiveness of those,

Who are careless of their fate?

 

No one goes to Heaven alone.

The cleansed and the holy,

Grab the tassles

Of your prayer shawl.

 

Lower your eyes.

Beat your breast.

Forget yourself.

Remember the family of God.

 

Together let us

Praise the Living God,

Who waits in Mercy for mercy,

For He calls all

To be His own.

 

©2012 Joann Nelander

 

 

 

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Purgatory

Posted in Poetry, Prose & Prayer, Religion with tags , , , , , on March 9, 2012 by Joann

 

My many sins

Have gone up in flames,

And all that is left,

You deem holy.

 

©2012 Joann Nelander

 

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Weaned Child

Posted in My Journal with tags , , , , , , , on February 28, 2012 by Joann

I am the weaned child,
Upon Your knee.
Forgetful of time,
I curl Your hair about my fingers,
And tug at Your heartstrings.

My toys, the shiny objects of yesterday,
Lie by the stairs,
By which I began my ascent to You.

Comfort me.
Cuddle me.
Tickle me.

You spend Your universe,
As You had always planned,
Delighting one so small,
The least of the Children of Man.

© 2012 Joann Nelander

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Golgotha of Jasna Gora

Posted in Art, Catholic, Christ, Christian, Church, Culture, Faith, Lent, Spirituality, The Cross, Tradition with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 21, 2012 by Joann

H/T Julia : Golgotha of Jasna Gora – Artist: Jerzy Duda Gracz

 

 Here a bit more information about the images.

In the shrine at Czestochowa, upstairs from the famous icon of the Black Madonna, a 21st-century Way of the Cross reminds us that our real enemy is not the evil outside of us but the sin within us. In March 2001, the late Polish painter Jerzy Duda Gracz presented the monastery at Jasna Gora, one of the most popular pilgrimage sites in the world, with new Stations of the Cross. Gracz named these paintings after Golgotha, the mountain where Jesus was crucified, but many of the landscapes and faces he included in them are eerily recognizable to present-day viewers.

More Golgotha of Jasna Gora

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Palm Cross

Posted in My Journal with tags , , , on April 17, 2011 by Joann

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2011 Lenten Message of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI

Posted in My Journal with tags , , , , , on April 2, 2011 by Joann
Vatican. Pope Benedict XVI.

Image via Wikipedia

“…In synthesis, the Lenten journey, in which we are invited to contemplate the Mystery of the Cross, is meant to reproduce within us ‘the pattern of His death’ (Ph 3:10), so as to effect a deep conversion in our lives; that we may be transformed by the action of the Holy Spirit, like St. Paul on the road to Damascus; that we may firmly orient our existence according to the Will of God; that we may be freed of our egoism, overcoming the instinct to dominate others and opening us to the Love of Christ. The Lenten period is a favorable time to recognize our weakness and to accept, through a sincere inventory of our life, the renewing Grace of the Sacrament of Penance, and walk resolutely towards Christ….”
(Pope Benedict XVI, 2011 Lenten Message, Nov. 4, 2010)

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS

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Lenten Whispers

Posted in Catholic with tags , , , , on March 31, 2011 by Joann

You who eat to gladden your gut,
You who indulge to comfort the flesh,
Come to a true banquet!

Rejoice your spirit,
Give joy to your soul.
Fatten your prayer on faith.

Let words ravish the Heart of God.
Even words unspoken, but burning in your heart,
Call angels to your side.

Quiet the world, by stepping apart,
Still your flesh in earnest fast,
Widen the breath of your praise.

The majesty of God inclines to your lips.
For it is He, Who has promised.
Whisper and He smiles.

Copyright Joann Nelander © 2011 All rights reserved.

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Cleaning Up Your Act

Posted in My Journal with tags , , on March 27, 2011 by Joann

I can only clean up your dirt,
If you give it to me.
Is it pride that stands in your way?
Think, then, of the filth in which you wallow.

Being prostrate in repentance,
Is in reality a rising,
A lifting of your head,
A step up, my man!

Really now, how proud can a man be,
Who is chained to their sin,
A slave in bondage to habit,
Following the crowd?

Mire and muck,
What trappings are these,
But for a prince of fools?
Fall on your knees to stand up!

Copyright Joann Nelander © 2011  All rights reserved

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Scriptural Rosary Podcast

Posted in audio, Catholic, Lent, Our Lady, Prayer with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 6, 2010 by Joann

Joyful Scriptural Mysteries - Podcast

joyful

Luminous Scriptural Mysteries - Podcast

Luminous

Sorrowful Scriptural Mysteries Pt.1

sorrowful pt 1

sorrowful pt 2

Sorrowful Scriptural Mysteries Pt. 2

Glorious Scriptural Mysteries - Podcast

Glorious

by Joann Nelander

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Jimmy Akin: Evil Monster Update

Posted in Lent, News with tags , , , , , , , , , on April 3, 2010 by Joann

Jimmy Akin follows up:

I’d like to thank The Anchoress and Andrew Sullivan for linking my previous piece on Cardinal Ratzinger and the Murphy case, and for the kind things they said about it.

There is more to say about the story. Quite a bit, actually. In particular, I’ll be responding to Sullivan, and I’ll be able to report on the German story, but first there are some additional facts to get on the table regarding the Wisconsin one.

Let’s start with a piece by Fr. Thomas Brundage (pictured), who writes:

I was the Judicial Vicar for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee from 1995-2003. During those years, I presided over four canonical criminal cases, one of which involved Father Lawrence Murphy. Two of the four men died during the process.

Interesting that Brundage says two of the four men died during the process. Contrary to what you would think from press reports, Murphy appears to be one of the two, given what shortly will become clear.

In any event, a 50% death rate seems to indicate aggressive prosecution of men even when they are quite old or in ill health. So already a picture is forming of Brundage as presiding over a vigorous court.

He has not been pleased with the New York Times’ (and other outlets’) reportage on the Murphy case:

As I have found that the reporting on this issue has been inaccurate and poor in terms of the facts, I am also writing from a sense of duty to the truth.

The fact that I presided over this trial and have never once been contacted by any news organization for comment speaks for itself.

Yeowch!

In 1996, I was introduced to the story of Father Murphy, formerly the principal of St. John’s School for the Deaf in Milwaukee. It had been common knowledge for decades that during Father Murphy’s tenure at the school (1950-1974) there had been a scandal at St. John’s involving him and some deaf children. The details, however, were sketchy at best.

Courageous advocacy on behalf of the victims (and often their wives), led the Archdiocese of Milwaukee to revisit the matter in 1996.

“Courageous advocacy” suggests that there was a struggle requiring courage to get the Archdiocese of Milwaukee to act, presumably this involved the argument that Fr. Murphy’s crimes were committed long ago and that he was no longer in the diocese. Nevertheless . . . Read more »

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Why I Remain Catholic

Posted in Catholic, Christ, Christian, Church, Lent, Priesthood, Religion with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 3, 2010 by Joann

Today, On Good Friday, Here’s Why I Remain Catholic

Though the ill aspects of the Catholic Church have recently been highlighted in the news, commentator Elizabeth Scalia says the good aspects have never gotten enough attention.

Published: April 02, 2010
by Elizabeth Scalia

Elizabeth Scalia is a contributing writer to First Things Magazine as the blogger known as The Anchoress.

The question has come my way several times in the past week: “How do you maintain your faith in light of news stories that bring light to the dark places that exist within your church?”

When have darkness and light been anything but co-existent? How do we recognize either without the other?

I remain within, and love, the Catholic Church because it is a church that has lived and wrestled within the mystery of the shadow lands ever since an innocent man was arrested, sentenced and crucified, while the keeper of “the keys” denied him, and his first priests ran away. Through 2,000 imperfect — sometimes glorious, sometimes heinous — years, the church has contemplated and manifested the truth that dark and light, innocence and guilt, justice and injustice all share a kinship, one that waves back and forth like wind-stirred wheat in a field, churning toward something — as yet — unknowable.

The darkness within my church is real, and it has too often gone unaddressed. The light within my church is also real, and has too often gone unappreciated. A small minority has sinned, gravely, against too many. Another minority has assisted or saved the lives of millions.

But then, my country is the most generous and compassionate nation on Earth; it is also the only country that has ever deployed nuclear weapons of mass destruction.

My government is founded upon a singular appreciation of personal liberty; some of those founders owned slaves.

My family was known for its neighborliness and its work ethic; its patriarch was a serial child molester.

Read the complete essay here.

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Surprise – Sin Abounds!

Posted in Catholic, Christian, Church, Faith, Just Thinking Out Loud, Lent with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on April 2, 2010 by Joann

It should be no surprise; Sin abounds! The human race is awash with, riddles with, mired in and drowning under, Sin.  It is our natural state of being without a Savior. From the day we are born, leaving Eden, so to speak, we become the star of our universe, maybe, more like a Black Hole.  We can’t help trying to draw all things to ourselves. With myiads of rationalizations and excuses to suit our ages and pretensions, the event horizon is approached and we are doomed.  Sin in its rational disguises is irrational and drives us like a madman.  It is the Dark, clouding out the true Sun.

The real surprise in life is that where sin abounds grace abounds all the more!  It can be stated that God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant. Romans 5:20.

Our Savior comes still today to save us.  Being “churched” does not perfect us; God does, in His own time.  If we open our hearts in repentance, Jesus gives us His forgiveness and cancels the debt against us.  Perfect comes later, sometimes, much later.

The euphemistic blessing, “May you live in interesting times.” is said to be the least severe of three curses, the others being:

“May you come to the attention of those in authority.”
“May you find what you are looking for.”

Fortunately, for us, the Living, we live in glorious times.  Sin abounds and we are saved!  God for His part has done the work, we need but claim the Victory.  The offer is always at hand in nail-pierced hands. Grace abounds all the more!  Alleluia!

Must Read:  Why I Remain A Catholic

by Elizabeth Scalia The Anchoress

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Golgotha of Jasna Gora

Posted in Art, Catholic, Lent with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 2, 2010 by Joann

H/T Julia : Golgotha of Jasna Gora – Artist: Jerzy Duda Gracz

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Wonderful St. Michael Prayer

Posted in Catholic, Christian, devotion, Lent, Prayer with tags , , , , , , , , on March 31, 2010 by Joann

Act of Consecration to St. Michael

Oh, most Noble Prince of the Angelic Hierarchies, valorous warrior of Almighty God, and zealous lover of His glory, terror of the rebellious Angels, and love and delight of all the just, my beloved Archangel Saint Michael, desiring to be numbered among thy devoted servants, today I offer and consecrate myself to thee, and place myself, my family and all I possess under thy most powerful protection.

I entreat thee not to look at how little I, as thy servant have to offer, being only a wretched sinner, but to gaze rather with favorable eye at the heartfelt affection with which this offering is made, and remember that if from this day onward I am under thy patronage, thou must during all my life assist me and procure for me the pardon of my many grievous offenses and sins, the grace to love with all my heart my God, my dear Saviour Jesus, and my Sweet Mother Mary, and obtain for me all the help necessary to arrive to my crown of glory.

Defend me always from my spiritual enemies, particularly in the last moments of my life.

Come then oh glorious Prince and succour me in my last struggle, and with thy powerful weapon cast far from me into the infernal abysses that prevaricator and proud Angel that one day thou didst prostrate in the celestial battle.

Accompany me then to the throne of God to sing with thee, Archangel Saint Michael and all the Angels, praise, honour and glory to the One Who reigns for all eternity. Amen.

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