Good morning, Jesus.
Here we are again,
At the beginning of a new day.
Can you feel me?
Here I am in Your Great Heart,
Reaching for You with my heart.
I feel Your eyes upon me.
You are perfume to my senses.
You are the touch of sweetness
I taste wafting on the breeze of Spirit.
You sound in my heart
With the beating of Yours.
Ever near, ever dear, everlasting,
Song of my soul.
Good morning, my Jesus.
Hold me here,
On the brink of eternity.
©2014 Joann Nelander
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
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
Immodest child,
Immoderate man,
So, you think to slay dragons,
By wit and prowess,
Armed with nature’s sword.
You think it cruel
And mean-spirited,
That a “good” God
Choose to temper you,
By merciful humiliation.
He thwarts your inventions,
And plans of glory.
“All for God,” your dream,
Yet you are at the center,
With your well-chosen cross.
“Indiscreet zeal”
Immature man,
Undone by impatience,
Intemperance,
And swollen pride.
Each day God waits
Supplies the Way,
Plans a day
Filled to the brim
With humility’s simplicity.
Abandonment,
Acceptance,
Both arrow and bow,
To hit the mark
Marked out by Love.
copyright 2014 Joann Nelander
Acknowledgement:
In a chapter called, “Immature Zeal” Ralph Martin points out the effectiveness overtime of “ordinary grace” and “common life,” in his book, The Fulfillment of All Desires, a Guidebook to God Based on the Wisdom of the Saints.
Ralph quotes Sts. Teresa of Avila and Bernard to point out our folly in relying inordinately on ourselves to become holy and to do great things for God, both early in the spiritual life, and later on, when temptations are subtler.
Be perfect, You say.
“Be perfect, as the Father is perfect.”
“Perfection” is held before our eyes,
Hung in the heavens, like a star,
Like a luminous star,
As a star going before us,
Beckoning to us,
Inviting, “Come follow me.”
In the dark of Your Mystery,
We make ready,
We journey forth,
Answering a call,
A call written on the heart,
Engraved, as by prophetic fathers,
Beyond imagining,
More certain than Death’s curtain,
Far, far, greater than the cost.
“Perfection” begins life as a babe,
Bound in swaddling,
A law conceived in the soul,
Bidding trust,
Coaxing obedience.
“Come, follow Me”
Journey through the Night.
When you have done all,
Spent all,
Lay down your dreams,
Your treasure,
For the rest lies with the Heavenly Host.
Touching the earth once more
In celestial wonderment,
With a loving caress,
And a word of command,
Fulfilled, as it is spoken,
“Be perfect, as the Father is perfect”,
Angels whisper you home.
Copyright 2015 Joann Nelander
A Nation cries,
In want of Thee.
Time hurries,
All the while consuming,
That which our hands have built.
Our plenty devoured
In furnaces of desire.
“More, give us more,
The engines roar. ”
You wait,
That we might recognize
Your reign.
Your sun rises on each new day.
You are patient.
Wait, wait, wait….
Obedience is not our way.
We turn only blind eyes
And misprize chastisement’s scourge.
We know only
The gates of Hell demand,
Demand our sacrifice,
Human sacrifice.
We do not deny them.
No place too sacred to invade.
Give the gods their due,
For they pay our way.
After all, we are only clay,
Living to be merry
One more day.
You, O Holy One,
Speak of Love and Eternity.
Our bellies cry out “Now”
“Who needs Your Throne!”
Give us bread without God Alone.
Our way,
Just one more day.
©2012 Joann Nelander All rights reserved
Be Holy! 