Category Archives: All Things Catholic

Hidden Jesus

by

Hidden Jesus,
You fill my heart with desire.
I feel the agony
Of this earthly foray.

In Your Presence
Faith fills the silence.
Truth like beauty
Says You passed this way.

Your footprints in Time
Dot the heavens.
While I stand in the vestibule of eternity,
As one holding paradise at bay.

Aching emptiness
Of temporal schemes and dreams,
But mask my loneliness
For yet another day.

Step over the threshold
Where angel guards Eden’s gate
To drip Your fingers
Into my life as now I pray.

Copyright 2014 Joann Nelander

Vanity’s Fool

by

Suppose vanity exults creation
Above Creator?
Capture the moment.
Worship the image
As possessing life.

Gaze on the ship in the bottle,
A gimmick,
Devoid of wonder.
Just big enough to drink in,
Merely a sip by comparison
To the soul setting upon the sea
To catch the Wind in its sails
To be carried aloft
In hallowed abandonment.

Vanity thanks its fortune,
And prostrates itself
Before its stars.
No One to thank
No  One due worship.
Just another ship in a bottle.
Taking on water
And disappearing ‘neath
Life’s waves.

Rudderless fool
Contemplating the form of things,
Playing with beauty,
As though creating it anew.
A kaleidoscope of folly
Spills on the worldly canvas.

All the while,
God shines forth in His creation,
Only the willful blind fail to see.
Preferring a world of mirrors
To the light and splendor of Truth.

Born for Glory

by

Born for glory
I await heaven.

Born to be a saint,
I await the holy me.

Wasted years
Do not daunt.

Nor scarlet sin
Dim the Father’s demand.

With my “yes”,
I enter Your Heart.

With the point of a lance,
The Perfect pours forth perfection.

His glory,
Becomes my glory.

Blood and Water,
And I am born to Life.

copyright 2014 Joann Nelander

Joann Nelander
lionessblog.com

Call to Prayer

by

Call to Prayer

I know we are connected,
As nerve to muscle,
Sinew to bone,
Cell to cell,
Form and function
In call to action.

One holy Body,
Unique and alive,
Spirit pervading,
Each beloved member
All in humble subjugation,
Saintly suffusion,
As wills unite
In sanctified perfusion.

All unknowing, know by faith
The Father loving the Son.
Jesus, You are my prayer.
Held aloft in priestly hands,
You are we
A chorus of hearts,
Raised on the altar of the Cross.

copyright 2014 Joann Nelander

Joann Nelander
lionessblog.com

Water at the Well

by

In prayer,
I dig my well deeper.
I count it all joy,
Though sorrow may seep
Through my walls.

Bubbling up,
Through muddy ground,
Pure and fresh
With hope,
Pure water emerges,
Gladdening as an eternal spring..

I am become,
A drink of water,
Drawn by the stranger,
Who meets me in his thirst.

Copyright 2014 Joann Nelander

Gathering Flowers

by

As a child,
Gathering flowers in a meadow,
I spend these hours
By your side, dear Mother.

Happily, you kiss each bloom,
I offer, playfully, to your lips.
Bunching them as a bouquet,
I press them into your hands,
And you, as mother’s do,
Press them to your heart.

Copyright 2014 Joann Nelander