Words are swirling
Like leaves,
Lifted heavenward,
On bursts of emotion,
Only to settle quietly,
As the storm of love passes
Into Abiding Presence.
© 2012 Joann Nelander
Category Archives: Christ
Home, Hearth, and Throne
Mother Mary,
You were with Jesus
From the instant
Of His Incarnation.
With your “Fiat”,
The Promise
Became a Man,
Dwelling with you,
In profound peace
And humility.
It was you
Who knew
This first intimacy,
Who cherished and adored.
Who waited upon Him,
With heart,
And mind,
And body.
The only eyes
That could see Him
At this tender age,
Were yours,
As you gazed on Him
With the eyes
Of your intellect
And soul.
An inward glance
Set your Immaculate Heart ablaze,
As you became,
Home and hearth,
And throne,
For a Child of one cell,
Growing and destined
To rule the world,
As He had reigned
From eternity.
A Man like no other
And, yet,
Intimately,
One with all.
Open our eyes
To your Son.
With the Centurion,
Who presided
Over the Crucifixion
Of the Christ,
And opened His Side,
End our idolatry,
So we, too, cry
“My Lord and my God.”
Mother Mary,
Behold your Son
In me.
Prepare me to be
Home and hearth
And throne,
For Christ alone.
©2012 Joann Nelander
King of All Nations
Cover your eyes,
Lest you look on evil.
Stop your ears
Lest the fowl word assail.
The unthinkable
Has come to pass.
The forbidden
Have come to be.
The very air carries
The Tempter’s brood,
Sinister, in cloaked deceit.
Evil snakes in high places,
Surreptitious, in plans and plotting.
Look, and you will not see
The Perpetrator.
Sound the alarm,
But to meet mock outrage,
And the blind eye.
The pot once simmering
Has come to a boil,
No lid to contain,
No effort to constrain.
Prepare ye!
Prepare Ye!
With prayer,
And fasting,
Prepare ye!
From the Four Corners
Trumpet blasts,
Herald of battle,
A call to arms.
Arrows, tipped with prayer,
Fly heavenward,
Rising to hail the Almighty,
To bid bright Michael
To storm.
Let them descend as rain
To pierce the heart of Darkness
To rout the Foe
On the Terrible Day,
The Day of the Lord.
Mercy opens His Breast,
Revealing a Heart of Love.
Justice clothes the anawim
In plated armor.
Light from light
Fills the Earth
As Pentecost,
And Genesis meet.
A New Heaven
And New Earth to come,
As the King of All Nations
Arises in the East,
Prepared to mount His throne.
Prepare ye!
Prepare Ye!
With prayer,
And fasting,
Prepare ye!
©2012 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved
An Act of Faith
I have seen enough to know,
I just don’t know,
But there is One Who does,
Giver of Life,
Giver of generations,
Giver of prayer.
One generation to pray
For the next generation.
Mother, and father,
Grandmother, grandfather,
A circle of care
To pray it forward.
Faith waits upon the Lord,
A gift beyond measure,
A mystery waiting to happen,
Not in our time,
But in our Father’s.
No seed too bad
To wait upon,
Hope for,
Entrust to God,
In His Mercy,
And providential time.
Our own close their ears
To the prophet at home
Or next door,
But no one knows
What God has in store.
"Place them here
With Me in the tabernacle,"
Whispers God to the heart.
"I’ll have the last word,
My Love to impart."
One generation to pray
For the next generation.
"All shall be well,
And all shall be well,
And all manner of thing
Shall be well." (Bl.Julianna of Norwich)
©2012 Joann Nelander
Fear of the Lord
The merciful Hand of the Lord
Is upon me.
It is a fearful thing
To fall into the Hand
Of the Living God
He metes out judgment,
And punishment due.
Why then, do I lift my voice
In praise and thanksgiving?
In an instant,
I saw my desert.
Fear and trembling seized me,
As my mercy-cry
Pierced the darkness.
Caught in my descent,
His Hand reached
Into my Hell.
It is in my nature to fall,
In His nature
To show mercy.
His end is my good.
Even in judgment,
Mercy shows His Face.
Punished, I am now free.
Seeing His mercy
In His rendering of scourge,
I trust,
As once I feared to do.
May His Hand always
Be upon me,
As fear of the Lord,
Befriends me.
©2012 Joann Nelander All rights reserved
Love’s Mansion
A child lost,
A child stolen,
A child abandoned,
But not by Love.
Love held his hand,
As Death pursued.
Love clutched his life
To hold him in her heart.
When all doors shut,
When clouds descended,
When law conspired,
When men called evil good.
Love shared his pain.
Love healed.
Love fostered love.
Prepared a home.
Love opened the earth
To receive the blood
Of innocence,
Once more.
Love found a way,
To thwart the grave,
To forgive, to forget,
To encompass and enfold.
Love builds a mansion
With waiting rooms,
For mother, father
And lineage long.
From Adam past
Unto blessed Eternity,
Love reclaims,
Love invites to Mercy feast.
Love simply loves,
Sinner, martyr, saint,
The lost, the stolen, the abandoned,
Now espoused.
© 2012 Joann Nelander
Be Holy! 