Author Archives: Be Holy

Sweet Presence

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You are here.
My soul drinks
Of Your Presence.
Here is sweetness pervading,
Time with no measure,
Eternity kissing the moment,
Stillness, though fleeting.

Your touch stirs the life of me.
I want to dance,
Charged with new vigor.
I should simply gaze on You
But the power of life
Is hard to resist,
And unless You take me captive,
I’m tempted to fly.

I am the beggar,
Who finding his pockets full,
Hurries off to spend his treasure.
Teach me Lord to bask
In the sunshine of Your smile.

© 2013 Joann Nelander

Multiplication by Joyce Kilmer

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I take my leave, with sorrow, of Him I love so well;
I look my last upon His small and radiant prison-cell;
O happy lamp! to serve Him with never ceasing light!
O happy flame! to tremble forever in His sight!

I leave the holy quiet for the loudly human train,
And my heart that He has breathed upon is filled with lonely pain.
O King, O Friend, O Lover! What sorer grief can be
In all the reddest depths of Hell than banishment from Thee?

But from my window as I speed across the sleeping land
I see the towns and villages wherein His houses stand.
Above the roofs I see a cross outlined against the night,
And I know that there my Lover dwells in His sacramental might.

Dominions kneel before Him, and Powers kiss His feet,
Yet for me He keeps His weary watch in the turmoil of the street:
The King of Kings awaits me, wherever I may go,
O who am I that He should deign to love and serve me so?

Contemplation

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Your grandeur overwhelms me.
You lavish your splendor,
Even on the ordinary,
Like grass upon the meadow,
And tears welling from the heart.

Where can I look that You are not?
Even the fallow field,
Awaits another day,
As virgin in repose,
Seeing in needful desire,
A time of promise and plenty.

You are written on our hearts.
We perceive You near,
Though hidden.
Terrible and tender,
You are unknowable,
Unless You give the means of knowing.

The universe though draped
In the garb of galactic might and majesty,
Does not know that it is.
Yet, the sentient child
Plays at Your side.

Men, too busy,
Brush by You on the street.
While the nursing babe
Finds You in steady supply.

Too grand!
Too glorious!
Blinded by the refulgence of Your sublimity,
I cover my eyes,
Yet peek with hope
To glimpse You passing.

In the mist of Your Mystery,
You are!
You are!
You are!

I know,
Because I am,
And You whisper and shout
Revealing,
I AM WHO I AM.

Joann Nelander

Your Eyes Are Upon Me

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Your eyes are upon
Your lowly servant.
I have a sense
Of being with You
This day in Paradise.
I know you are here
With me,
In the Flesh
For these holy moments,
And, by my Baptism and Confirmation,
By character and grace
In Your Holy Spirit.

Amen to all you choose
To do in me.
I am Yours.
Make me a cleansed vessel
A vessel covered in gold
Fit for Your service,
A chalice full
Of willingness.
I pray, I wait, I obey.

Holy, holy,holy Lord.

Joann Nelander