Category Archives: All Things Catholic

What Else is There?

by

All that matters,
To be like Christ,
What else is there?
 
Want what the Father wants,
Love, love, love!
Suffer with Jesus,
As He suffers,
Lack of love
In the world,
In people,
In Christians.
 
The world belongs to God,
Creator of Beauty, Holiness, Truth,
All that is.
Creation confesses Jesus,
Gives witness to God.
 
Live like him.
Talk like Him.
Let Him impress on you
His image as on Veronica’s veil,
Offered in compassion.
 
Impressed with the face of Jesus,
Go forward
In newness of life,
A new creation.
 
False images,
Reject them!
Imitate Jesus Christ.
Have Him before your eyes
All the day long.
Have Him on your tongue
All the day long.
 
Live with Him
Through the night,
Through the dark,
Into the smiling Light.
All is grace.
What else is there?
 

© 2014 Joann Nelander

 

 

 

Under the Fig Tree

by

untitled-175

“I Saw You Under the Fig Tree.”

All our yesterdays are forgotten
With the rush of Tomorrow.
All the words fade away.
Images are fleeting.
All praise passes into oblivion.
The compliments lost,
As unrecorded history.

All things are sand
Falling through the fingers of the Future.
None endure the winds of Time.

So, what of me?
What is the why of me?
Why do You long for me?
I feel your desire pleading
In all about me.

“I saw you under the fig tree.”
What did you see of me, O Lord?
Did you see my yearning?
Were You witness to my sin?
Did you hear the prayer I whispered,
The call of my heart.

Did you see resolve written on my face?
Did you see the love
Swelling my heart?
What did you see of me, Oh Lord,
Under the fig tree?

Because You saw me
Under the fig tree,
My heart opens to see You.
You reveal a world and love
Beyond all that is matter,
Beyond all that once mattered,
Surpassing all that is,
A world of God ,
A world of God in all,
And for all,
Dying to live in all.

I didn’t see You,
Until now,
This precious Now,
Surviving my mortality,
With the reason of my being,
With the holy vision of Thou.

© 2016 Joann Nelander

Who is the Poorest of the Poor?

by

Who is the poorest of the Poor?
Is it not the one deprived of womb?
Is it not the one gone unnamed?
Given a frame
But denied rightful claim,
Stripped bear of place,
No space to grow,
Deprived of a proper birth?
Is it not the one evicted,
Before drawing it’s first breath,
Whose beating heart is silenced,
With the sanction of the Court!?
With privacy,
Lest the whole world hear it’s cry?

Though a mother forget her child,
The Father of all fathers
Will not, no never, forget.
He has a place,
And a name,
For all the poor,
For the poorest
Of the poor,
Called “Beloved”
And “Poor No More”.

©2012 Joann Nelander

All rights reserved

Sorrow In the Midst of Joy

by

In the midst of joy,
I bear many sorrows.

For the perfection
Of the Trinity’s All Holy
Work of Love,
I place my longing,
My yearning,
Next to your perfect sorrow.

May my cries
Pierce your Immaculate Heart,
O Holy Mother,
As you behold your Son,
In His Dying.

What good can come of sorrow?
You, Queen Mother,
Who sit enthroned
Beside His throne,
Sharing the sweetness
Of Love’s fulfillment,
Know,
And count it all joy.

The One Son,
The One Christ,
Bears Mankind,
As He bore the Cross.
Savor the shed tears
And offer them,
As you did your own.

I await the morning,
The bright dawning
Of Love’s true laughter.

©2013 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved

Writing in Gold

by

Writing in Gold

I’m here,
Once again,
I’m here.
Awake to You.

Before dawn wakes,
I anticipate,
Opening the door of my heart,
Like a flower,
Invited by the light
Of a thousand yesterday’s.

We have a history,
And though my memory fades,
You cherish our moments.
Even the mundane,
You write in letters of Gold,
Recording them,
Transforming them.

I’m here, again,
Awake to You,
You, Who have been watching,
Guarding,
Writing,
In Gold,
Gold,
Precious Gold.

In the Gold of Ophir,
You write.
You tell,
My story,
My life,
In refined Gold,
You inscribe,
In Your Book of Life.
My heart,
On Your Most Sacred Heart.

© 2017 Joann Nelander

Looking for the Sunshine

by

Looking for the Sunshine

What roads have you traveled,
Looking for the sunshine,
Golden days always,
Just over the hill.

One more detour,
Another tomorrow,
Sunny days escape you,
Just like clouds,
You’re drifting still.

To others, you’re the sunshine,
Their warmth along the way,
A winning grin,
A joke with morning coffee,
Shared moments everyday.

No matter the byways,
Flights of fancy,
And farewells,
Above those clouds
The Sun’s been smiling,
Loving the look of you.

© 2016 Joann Nelander