Clutching You to my heart,
My sins before me,
I make Your Death,
My dying,
And find my life.
You give Yourself to me.
You give Yourself for me.
I hold Your cold,
Your bruised and bloodless Body
As I pray.
Wiping the spittle from Your Face,
I behold the Man,
My sins before me always,
I embrace Your Words.
“Father forgive.”
Copyright 2016 Joann Nelander
KEEPER OF MY SOUL
I am because You are.
I will always be,
Because you create me for eternity.
Who can grasp the eternal soul?
Who but Man is spirit celestial,
Yet of this earth terrestrial?
What does it matter that I am matter,
Made for this world and Time,
Yet envisioning a paradise more sublime?
Where will I spend my forever?
Is it for nought,
That I seek to do as I ought?
You whisper at sunset,
In the glory of the evening sky,
Telling of Mystery hidden from the eye.
You dream of me, eternally.
You fire my spirit and my stuff.
Knowing earth is not enough.
When earth can no longer
Hold my soul,
Sign me in Your celestial scroll.
Write my name in Yours,
Jesus, protector from death infernal,
Jesus, keeper of my soul eternal
© 2016 Joann Nelander
Longinus,
You, who beheld Life,
As your Savior
Hung between Heaven and Earth,
Dying on His Cross,
Your heart came alive
At the sight of the Mother’s agony.
The thrust of your spear
Lanced the heart of the Christ
And pierced your own
To let Him enter,
He, who would henceforth,
Possess you in contemplation.
His blood, falling upon weak and worldly eyes,,
Touched in you, the pagan,
Opening eyes blind to the things of God,
With the sight of the Holy.
Your life became a contemplation
Of the Dying and the Rising,
Did you fall into a sleep,
As the angels descended to roll away the stone?
Did premonitions of sacred mystery stir you,
Wakening the soldier witness soul,
To serve not merely an emperor,
But True God?
The Cassius of the Crucifixion
Died, only to open his eyes in faith,
And live, henceforth a new man,
With a story of Blood and Water,
And New Life,
copyright 2014 Joann Nelander
