Give me a heart
Desirous of Truth.
You, Who rent
In two the veil,
That hid Your Divinity
In the mystery
Of Flesh and Blood,
Incarnation for my salvation,
Open the Way
For me to enter in,
That loving You,
I may taste
The heavenly Bread,
And walk, henceforth,
A child, at home
In the Holy of Holies.
Copyright 2013 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved
Light a fire in my lowly heart
That I may love Thee
More and more.
Accept my straw as kindling.
Ignite me as a sacrifice.
To be consumed.
Breathe on me in the furnace
Of your desires
For this child of Your creation.
Blaze to transform
By grace and Thy Holy Spirit,
My base metal into the finest gold.
Enflame my yearning heart
That love may burst forth,
Forevermore.
copyright 2014 Joann Nelander
My life burns in Your Presence as a candle.
Before you I stand as melting wax,
Awaiting Your seal
And assignment.
My days have come in steady supply,
Grace and provision never wanting.
Loaves and fishes You have given me.
In prayer I place my plenty in Your Hands.
Leaning on Your Arm,
I wait for You
To multiply even the smallest morsel
To feed a hungry world.
Copyright 2013 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved
O loving Mother Mary,
Undoer of Knots,
Look upon the jumble of my life,
And work the wonder
Graced by God to thee
It is said that He Who Is
Writes straight
With crooked lines.
May He Who is the Author of Life,
And Creator
Of my all too brief story,
Allow you to edit these pages.
Untangle the chaos
With your sweet simplicity.
Place Your Child upon my breast;
So may the beating of His heart
Set the rhythm of mine,
That it be in tune
With the eternal chorus,
Singing My God’s praises,
All for the glory
Of He of Whom the angels
Serenade in a perpetual,
“Holy, Holy, Holy! ”
Copyright 2013 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved
With Veronica,
I want to bathe Your Wounds.
Time and place are no obstacle.
You, in eternity, possess all.
Possess my heart,
And my poor intentions,
Render them pure and holy.
Wiping the spittle from Your Adorable Face,
I weep at Your disfigurement at the hands of Man.
I, in my time and turn, have looked away.
Here, with You, in prayer,
I turn back,
That my present ministries
May touch Your Body,
Alive, suffering in purgation,
Battling with the help of Heaven on Earth,
And triumphant with our Father in glory.
Mysteriously, my wounds,
And warts are healed,
My misery comprehended and mended,
By Your merciful gaze,
My shame surrendered,
And supplanted,
With your look of Love.
With Veronica,
I reach out,
Only to receive back,
My dignity,
I stoop,
To rise with You,
My Hope,
True Image of Our Father’s Love.
©2015 Joann Nelander
* The Latin meaning of the name Veronica is “True Image” (vera icon)
Here I am,
Your poor one,
Your lowly one,
Your empty one,
Kneeling in adoration..
You spread out Space and Time,
Knowing You would call me forth.
And then You did.
You called to me,
Forming me from the Earth,
You Who played among the Pleides,
Stooped to play with me.
You kissed me,
With the Breath of Your Mouth,
You filled me,
Shaping me,
Empowering me,
Placing in me a formless hope.
Hope grew with the babe,
And sought with fingers of my senses.
Peeling back the covering of Mystery,
Revealing treasures hidden in the earth,
And dancing in the heavens,
Witnessed with wonder in the Night,
The Universe invited me to You,
To join You in the dance,
For which all Time and Space,
All days and all nights,
All mystery had poured forth,
With Your Cry for Light.
Your Heartbeat created the rhythms of the constellations,
The ebb and flow of cosmic seas.
Your Heart beat for Your dream of Man,
Your dream of me.
You, given as gift,
Hidden from blind eyes,
Hidden among the stars,
Spreading across Your Time,
Filling all Your Majestic Space,
Slowly whispering Your secrets,
And revealing truths,
Revealed Ultimate Truth.
You in Your Way spoke to me.
There was more than matter wrapped in my being.
Secreted without shape,
Without form,
Without stuff,
With only the power to will,
And, thereby, to Love,
To know,
And, thereby, to seek and search,
That, in living, I might come to discover You,
With me, beside me and all around me,
Waiting for me to love You.
You, Who always knew me,
And loved me,
In my ignorance,
In my blindness
And in my very being,
Even while Sin entered in to obscure Your work,
And the wonder of me,
Graced me with a soul.
I didn’t know You.
I couldn’t see You.
I didn’t know to seek after You.
Until I saw You hanging there,
Crossing the abyss,
Above the world,
Suspended and told throughout Time,
Now, at long last, I pray,
And gasp for You, my Breath.
You are the shape of me,
Saved for an eternity
Beyond gaseous matter,
And starry night,
A Day created by the One Uncreated,
And lived in the Wedding
Of Love, of soul and Spirit-being.
For this I will,
With my indomitable will,
Keep praying.
Copyright 2015 Joann Nelander
Be Holy! 