Category Archives: Spiritual

Courts of Praise

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Thank you, dear Lord, for my life long,

for beloved family and friends,

and all dear hearts touching mine.

My treasure trove of souls

spills far beyond my time

to number as my own

those who have gone before,

your saints of ages past,

the cloud of witnesses on high

and pure angelic beings

in realms veiled from the eye.

There never was a day in which I was alone,

nor forgotten before Your throne.

There, at Your feet,

all heaven sweet anthems raise

to set celestial hearts ablaze.

My heart with choruses

swell my love,

grown great in gratitude.

I make a small return of love beside Your All Love.

You count my debt as paid

and bid me enter courts of praise.

By Joann Nelander

All Will Be Well – All Will Be Well

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Secondo Pia's negative of the image on the Shr...

Image via Wikipedia

I’m posting this because I think Theocentric did a good job of summarizing Julian of Norwich‘s “shewings”:

“All Will Be Well”

An Analysis of Julian of Norwich’s “Showings”

In a near-death vision filled with violent and bloody images of suffering, the mystic Julian of Norwich heard God’s assuring words that “all will be well in the end.” In her book, Showings, Julian describes her visions, offering them for the comfort and instruction of God’s people.

Julian’s Visions

As a young woman, Julian prayed for three graces from God: (1) a greater comprehension of Christ’s Passion to increase her knowledge of Jesus; (2) an experience of bodily sickness to the point of death in order to remove her reliance on earthly creatures or comfort, and (3) three wounds to lead her to deeper union with God. (Ch. 1)

God answered her prayers at age 30 when she suffered a bodily illness that brought her to the very brink of death. In this feeble state, she asked to have her upper body elevated so she could contemplate God in her final moments. At this time, the Parson came, accompanied by a boy with a crucifix. As Julian focused on the crucifix, everything around it grew dark. Julian’s pain became so great that she believed she was going to die, when suddenly, all her pain disappeared. Taking advantage of this new turn of events, Julian prayed that God would fill her body with the pains of Christ’s Passion. At this point, her visions began. (Ch. 2 – 3)

In her first revelation, she sees six things: (1) blood trickling down from the crown of thorns on the crucifix before her; (2) a vision of the Virgin Mary; (3) a “spiritual sight” of Christ’s all-embracive love and goodness; (4) a small ball in the palm of Christ’s hand, representing creation, demonstrating its goodness and yet its “smallness” in relation to Christ; (5) three properties in the ball which reveal to her that God is her Creator, lover, and protector; and (6) three “nothings” demonstrating that God is the source of all good and should be sought above all created things. (Ch. 3 – 5)

Next, she has a vision of Christ’s face being battered and bruised. This leads to a revelation that God is present in all things, wisely and providentially working out his purpose. As the body of Christ spews forth blood, Julian sees God’s bountiful provision of forgiveness through Christ’s blood. It is this blood that overcomes the devil and his fiends. Because of God’s overarching providence in all things and Christ’s conquering blood, the devil stands completely defeated in everything he does. This leads Julian to laugh over the devil’s miserable predicament (Ch. 7 – 8).

The laughter leads to a vision of three degrees of bliss in heaven resulting from the joy one experiences upon hearing God’s praise announced publicly in the hearing of all — a joy that once received is everlasting. The vision of bliss is immediately followed by an experience of sorrow and despair. This pattern of bliss and sorrow is repeated again and again, teaching Julian that God loves us and keeps us safe at all times. (Ch. 9)

In the final vision, Julian sees Christ shrivel up in thirst. She cannot imagine a greater pain. The love of Christ demonstrated in his willingness to endure immense pain for the sake of his beloved fills Julian with great joy, so that Jesus becomes “her heaven.” (Ch. 10 – 11)

Suddenly Christ’s appearance becomes joyful and he reveals three heavens to Julian — the joy of the Father, the bliss of the Son, and the endless delight of the Holy Spirit. The three heavens demonstrate God’s infinite delight in his work of salvation. (Ch. 12)

Christ then gives Julian a vision of St. Mary, and in contemplating her bliss and God’s love, Julian realizes that the only thing that hinders her desire for Christ is her own sin, causing her to wonder why God would allow sin in the first place. Jesus replies that “sin is necessary” but that in the end “all will be well.” (Ch. 13)

Julian is disturbed by this revelation. How can all things be well in light of the great harm sin brings? Christ replies that Adam’s sin brought the greatest harm to the world, but now, this harm has been overcome by Christ’s atoning work on the cross. Our lot in life is to embrace the Lord while humbly admitting that some aspects of the Lord’s counsel are closed and hidden to us. (Ch. 14)

Christ concludes by assuring Julian he can and will make all things well in the end. This truth will one day satisfy Christ’s spiritual thirst, when he possesses us wholly as his own. Even though we can’t comprehend this fully now, it is God’s will that we should be confident that “all will be well.” (Ch. 15 – 16)

All You Have Given Me

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I love You, Lord. You embrace me in our communion of Eucharist. I believe in Your love for the sinner. I am that sinner. You come to me. I am empty and poor, yet You make my poverty Your paradise. Here I bring to You all You have given me.

Behold Your streaming waters tumbling over my rocky ground. Your light penetrates my depths; the caverns of my heart yield their darkness to You, O Holy Sun! Sit here beside me in silence, as praise becomes an uncontainable river within me.  Flow  from my humble abode to water Your thirsting world without.  Delight, O Lord, at the crashing thunder as majestic waves rise before You in a crescendo of thanksgiving, finally pounding down upon the shore of my unworthiness.  They ebb and flow and gather strength as I remember Your Mercies.  All You have given me, I give now with gratitude.

Eagles dance in the air above our heads, grasping as claws hold fast, spinning  in wedded bliss;  their flight a symbol of our holy love.

Joann Nelander

Love Take Me Captive

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O Captain of my heart
On Love’s Tree
You penetrate the Lie.

You, victorious in Death,
Descend, piercing the Earth
To ransom Adam’s seed.

Scale my stony ramparts;
Pull down vanity’s tower;
Besiege the Gates of Hell.

Trumpet Your holy rage.
As with thundering steed and burnished sword,
Capture and hold fast my soul.

Call “Beloved” Your desolate one;
Call “Espoused” she who mourns
Her innocence’s demise.

Circle me about with Promise.
Covenant me in Blood Sacrifice.
Ascend on high with wedded bride..

O, Love Divine, make me Thine!

by Joann Nelander

The Precious and Life-giving Cross of Christ

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From a sermon by Saint Theodore the Studite

The Precious and Life-giving Cross of Christ

How precious the gift of the cross, how splendid to contemplate! In the cross there is no mingling of good and evil, as in the tree of paradise: it is wholly beautiful to behold and good to taste. The fruit of this tree is not death but life, not darkness but light. This tree does not cast us out of paradise, but opens the way for our return.

This was the tree on which Christ, like a king on a chariot, destroyed the devil, the Lord of death, and freed the human race from his tyranny. This was the tree upon which the Lord, like a brave warrior wounded in his hands, feet and side, healed the wounds of sin that the evil serpent had inflicted on our nature. A tree once caused our death, but now a tree brings life. Once deceived by a tree, we have now repelled the cunning serpent by a tree. What an astonishing transformation! That death should become life, that decay should become immortality, that shame should become glory! Well might the holy Apostle exclaim: Far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world! The supreme wisdom that flowered on the cross has shown the folly of worldly wisdom’s pride. The knowledge of all good, which is the fruit of the cross, has cut away the shoots of wickedness. Continue reading →

Time of Mercy Before “Day of Justice”

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Perhaps, we are always to think of ourselves as living in “the Last Days”? After-all, the Christians of the very first century expected that the return of Jesus was imminent.  As each arch-enemy to the Faith lifted his fist, there were those who saw Jesus’ Second Coming just over the horizon. The end didn’t come immediately, but purification came to prepare the way into the future, and with the future the promise of the Day of the Lord.  Again and again, the Cross has led the way and with the Victorious Cross looms on the horizon in the East the promised Return.

What are we to make of these days?  The Church gives us a new Saint in Sr. Faustina Kowalska, who spoke of “the Last Days,” because the Lord, Himself, put the words on her lips.

St. Faustina wrote in DIVINE MERCY IN MY SOUL The Diary of Sister M. Faustina Kowalska :

(Jesus to Sr. Faustina)

“Write this: before I come as the Just Judge, I am coming first as the King of Mercy. Before the day of Justice arrives, there will be given to people a sign in the Heaven of this sort:

All light in the heavens will be extinguished, and there will be a great darkness over the whole earth. Then the sign of the Cross will be seen in the sky, and from the openings where the hands and feet of the Savior were nailed will come forth great lights which will light up the earth for a period of time. This will take place shortly before the last day. “

St. Faustina wrote at the behest of Jesus.  He called her, “My Secretary”.

“…In the old covenant I sent prophets wielding thunderbolts to my people. Today I am sending you with My mercy to the people of the whole world. I do not want to punish aching mankind but I desire to heal it pressing it to My merciful heart…” (Diary 1588)

“Your task is to write down everything that I make known to you about my mercy. For the benefit of those who by reading these things will be comforted in their souls and will have the courage to approach Me. I, therefore want you to devote all your free moments to writing.” (Diary 1693)

“…You are the secretary of My mercy. I have chosen you for that office in this life and the next life” (Diary 1605)

“…I demand that you devote all your free moments to writing about My goodness and mercy. It is your office and your assignment throughout your life to continue to make known to souls the great mercy I have for them and to exhort them to trust in My bottomless mercy” (Diary 1567)

“My daughter; tell souls that I am giving them My mercy as a defense. I, Myself, am fighting for them and am bearing the just anger of My Father.” (Diary 1516)