I Watched a Friend at Prayer

I watched a friend at prayer.
From the moment her eyes
Met Yours on the Cross,
She was enraptured.

What is it that passes between like souls?
The gulf between You, God,
And Your creature is unfathomable,
Yet, Your love spans the distance and dissimilarity
With the intimacy of a mother
Suckling her infant,
All giving, all gift and all grace.

I watched my friend at prayer.
The world about her changed.
A holy space surrounded her,
As angels hurried to and fro,
Now bowing, now prostrate, now adoring.

All prayer unites,
As earth receives its Savior-God,
As Man exercises dominion,
Freed from Sin and chains.

Angels in swift flight,
Aloft on mission-wings ,
Now ascending,
Now descending.

Peace on earth
To men of good will,
As Time and Eternity kiss,
Love knowing no distance.

I watched my friend at prayer,
As her prayer became my prayer,
You drawing all to Yourself.
Draw me now,
And all will in turn
Run after the odor of Your ointments.

 ©2011 Joann Nelander

 

My Cry, Your Heart, My God

My Cry, Your Heart, My God

Reaching for You in the Night, I marvel.
What worlds my prayer spans!
The darkness of Space and Ages
Is penetrated by Your Light,
Pierced by my cry of recognition.

My will, like Longinian sword,
Penetrates Your Heart,
Tapping perpetual Springs.
Hallowed walls of Flesh part
To welcome me, a sinner, to sweet repose.

By Joann Nelander

Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ – Blessed Catherine Anne Emerich

Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ – Blessed Catherine Anne Emerich

 

PDF of the Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ

How Wisdom Treats His Mother – the Queenship of Mary

King Solomon is, as the Church teaches, a type of Christ. Let us note the regard and honor with which he treats his mother. If he, who was blessed by God with wisdom, honors the Queen Mother so, how much more should we regard , Mother Mary, given us from the Cross as our Mother by Jesus as one of His supreme final acts before ascending His Throne in heaven, and opening heaven to all believers. Note,too, that he does not refuse his mother.

“So Bathshe’ba went to King Solomon, to speak to him on behalf of Adoni’jah. And the king rose to meet her, and bowed down to her; then he sat on his throne, and had a seat brought for the king’s mother; and she sat on his right. Then she said, ‘I have one small request to make of you; do not refuse me.’ And the king said to her, ‘Make your request, my mother; for I will not refuse you,’” (1Kings 2:19-20). [1]

Greatest Offering by Tswi da ChristMic

Child of the Cross

Mother Mary,
Witness of the Passion,
Suffering witness,
Living the Passion,
As your Jesus
Hung on the Cross.

Pray, Mary.
Pray, My Mother,
Pray for me,
Who am so scattered,
Distracted and disengaged.

Pray every moment
Of my life here on earth,
That I be prepared for suffering,
That I be prepared for eternity.
That I find my Life
In the dying of Your Son,
My Lord.

Hold my hand, O Mother,
Every moment of everyday.
Pray for my yesterdays,
My today, and tomorrows.
Guide my feet to follow
In His steps.

As forbidden fruit
Appeals in its many disguises,
And occasions of evil spring-up,
Pull me out of harm’s way.
Steer me true, O Mother,

As my heart yearns for eternity
Let my glory be
As that of Jesus,
The Cross, the Crucifixion,
And the Dying.

May I live now,
Dying to Sin.
Witnessing at your side,
As Jesus beholds you.
He pronounces me your child.

I am a child
Of the Cross of Christ,
Which came to be
To ransom men.
I behold you, Mother Mary,
And you meet your Son in me.

© 2013 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved