Category Archives: All Things Catholic

Accountable

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O Man,awake!
On Earth, you are held accountable,
Are you not?

You sing for your supper.
You dance to life’s tune.
Only the air is free.
All else is taxed.
The first fruit is owed another.

You fear to run from the law.
You are held to a measure.!
If it be such for a man of earth,
Mortal, yet accountable,
Where will a soul, immortal,
Flee upon a coming demise?

Without the stuff of Earth,
Naked and stripped of pomp and circumstance,
Revealed as soul and spirit,
Answering not to man,
But to God,
Are we not all the more accountable?

Copyright 2015 Joann Nelander

Rebirth Reflection

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I am daughter.

I am heir.

Through the First Born Son,

I inherit a Kingdom,

For I am in Him and of Him.

 

My Baptism, a gift of Grace,

God is alive in my soul,

Me, dead to Sin,

Die in Him,

To live in Him.

 

I rise to Life,

New Life.

 

©2016 Joann Nelander

Beholding Past, Present & Future

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In Time,
Yet above it,
Beholding Past, Present and Future,
Christ, look upon my fore-bearers,
Still alive by virtue of an immortal soul.

Look upon my world, spinning in Space,
Held in its journey through Time,
By Your Father’s Almighty Word,
Destined for Judgement,
Bequeathed Mercy.

Look upon me,
In my time,
In my place,
On my journey.

My Jesus, Mercy.

© 2016 Joann Nelander

Darkly Here

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Though I perceive myself without You,
I could not reach for You, as I do,
But for You.
Therefore You are with me,
In my waiting,
In my hoping,
In my believing.

Never alone in my great wanting,
Satisfied in my enduring,
Tomorrow felt in my longing,
Smiling with every tear.
I am of high and holy cheer,
Believing You are near,
Certain You are darkly here.

©2016 Joann Nelander.

 


			

	
	



				
					

	

		
Benediction


				

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I reach for You in the night,

On my bed, desiring.

Knowing You present in the darkness,

Watching, loving, desiring me.


As I look to You,

My desire grows,

Believing I can attain You,

You, Who are beyond me of myself,

An impossibility on my own,

Yet I invite and hope, believing.


Presuming not the power of myself,

But wholly choosing You,

My Honored Guest, my Holy Quest

I beg Your residence eternal and supreme.


Prepare me for the Day

Of Your Perfect and Perpetual Presence,

When faith and hope are fed and satisfied

At the Banquet of Abundance.


Rejoicing and hungry no more,

Possessed and possessing You,

The end of my prayer,

Forever new ,

Forever beginning ,

Forever Day,

In the Eternal Now,

Then to live Life and Love,

Forever Knowing.


© 2016 Joann Nelander

			

	
	



				
					

	

		
The Cross and the Furnace,


				

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I want to spend my day loving You

And embracing life as You send It to me.

Nothing comes but by Your Will,.


Not that I haven’t thwarted Your Will.

I have!

I know I have,

But even as this moment

Bears the imprint of the hammer,

That struck the nails impaling You on Your Cross,

The Cross remained Yours,

And Your All Holy, All Chosen Will,

All of Your choosing

From the beginning of Time.


You are above Sin,

Above my sin and error,

The New Adam,

Obedient to the Father,

A Trinity of Union,

In Love.


By the Will of God ,

And the hand of man,

All infraction of the Divine Will

Was nailed to Your Holy Cross.

In You, I die to Sin,

And rise to live Your Dying

In my day.


In You,

Given for Men

Given for me,

I live God’s permissive Will,

Fashioned for me,

In the purifying furnace

Of His Perfect Will.


In this new day,

I choose the Cross and the Furnace,

I choose You,

Who are forging a union of hearts,

Perfect Love loving Man,

Desiring the perfection of every man,

Loving and perfecting me.


(C) 2016 Joann Nelander