Tag Archives: Christ

Speak the Perfect One in Me

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You spoke
And matter came to be.
Beauty and wisdom
Reigned over form,
And substance served
Your Thought.

You ruled the spheres and firmament
To create both void and fullness.
Your creation dawned in darkness,
And You let there be light.

First and last and all in between
Found a  place in Time.
You spoke forth Man
And, in my time, me.

You said,
“Be perfect
As I am perfect,”
And set free the human heart,
That it might know,
And love,
And serve Thee.
Yet will resisted service
And loved naught but itself.
“Tortuous and beyond remedy”,
We hid from Thee.

In Time, You spoke, the Cure.
Announcing to the Virgin,
And by a Star
And angels herald,
Saving throughout creation,
Twisted hearts.
Jordan’s waters, purifying
By the Holy to make men holy,
Love made manifest
By descending Dove
Again You spoke,
“This is my Son.”

Now, bowing will,
Longing in Your Christ,
Receive me as  son to Thee,
Anoint with Healing Balm,
Redeeming accursed Fall,
That perfect I, too,
May, please Thee, be.

When You speak
Life comes to be.
Speak now, the Perfect,
That I may perfect be
And, at long last, love Thee.

©2013 Joann Nelander

Jesus of the Cross

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Jesus of the Cross,
Jesus of the Suffering,
Jesus of the Dying,
Hanging from Your Cross
Before our eyes,
Hanging in Your Suffering,
Bleeding out Your Love,
Hanging in Your Dying
Above the world,
First Born Son
And New Beginning,
Birthing in the hearts
Of the Children of Man,
Children for God.

©2013 Joann Nelander

Who Am I?

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Who Am I?
You, Father God,
Revealed Yourself
To Your servant Moses.
“I am Who Am. ”

You are existence
In uncreated simplicity
And immaterial totality.
My thoughts and knowledge
Are without substance or form,
A mystery of being,
An image of Your Essence.

My prayer is a begging
To shape the me of me
Into the Person of Your Son,
That my “I am,”
Be as You Are.

May what I will be
Take Life
In Your Only Begotten One,
To make me
Fit for Familial Love,
When mortal life be done.

Copyright Joann Nelander 2011

All rights reserved

What of Tears?

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What of tears?
What of feelings of deep emotion?
What of the thoughts that seem to interfere
When one encounters the One to Whom we pray?

Don’t let them get in the way.
What is a poor body to do,
But quake before the awesome Presence?
What better use of tears
But to purify the vessel.
Allow the thoughts to bathe therein,
Outside the city
And realms of sin,
In the arms
Of One Who loves you
Through and through.

For the Glory

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O God,
See Your Saints,
And in them
See Your Son.

Behold in their living.
And their dying
The Cross
Covered in Your shekinah glory.

Enfleshed anew,
It is the Holy Spirit,
As in the womb of the Virgin
Who gives to the world
Proof of Your Love.

Your lowly creature, Man
Receives in his very being,
The splendor of Your might,
The eternal evidence
Of Your victory.

Satan and Sin, conquered,
Death defeated,
You dawn,
And the Son arises.

You shine in Your own,
Giving glory to God,
The Bridegroom,
Loving the Bride.

A Willing Heart

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The least of Your children, O Lord,,
Can bring forth fruit one hundred fold.
Such is the mystery of grace and love
Planted in a willing heart.

By Joann Nelander