You showed the way
To live each day,
One cup of water at a time.
You satisfy Man’s thirst,
By thirsting first.
We come,
One cup of water at a time.
I live anew to give
As I have received,
One cup of water at a time.
Living water ,
Abundant stream,
Channel Your Life through me,
One cup of water at a time.
©2012 Joann Nelander
How often I beseech
“All the angels and saints”,
Yet, fail to realize
The multitude of the holy,
I call to my side.
They do come.
They come ready to aid,
To do battle,
To protect,
And do bless.
God give me eyes,
That I may see,
For, indeed,
I am, too often,
Blind.
There are wise infrared eyes,
Spying the sky.
We see our universe at its birth.
For eons,
We knew of no such birth.
Blindness of a kind
Can kill.
A child in the womb,
Heart beating for the cameras,
Still fails
To make a Presence known.
How blind the eyes
That refuse to see.
Father of all that is,
Give me eyes of the heart,
That I may
Make a start.
© 2016 Joann Nelander
As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
I find you in tears.
I find you in longing.
I find you covered in the news of the day,
Lying in the cold,
Under the blanket of the night,
Under heaven’s gaze.
Who wipes your tears?
Who comforts and consoles?
Who sees you in your many disguises,
Crying in the child,
Laughing with young,
Smiling down from Heaven?
Give me eyes to see through the tears.
Give me a heart to feel hope beyond sorrow.
Give me the shelter of your company.
Here in the Now,
I find You sweet within me
Promising Forever.
©2015 Joann Nelander
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
PRAYER OF GREAT EFFICACY
O MOST holy Father, now that Thine Only-begotten Son, here truly present upon the Altar, has deigned to become a Sacrifice and propitiation for our sins, I offer Thee His most holy Body and Blood, His Humanity and His Divinity, His virtues and His perfections, His Passion and Death, in union with that love with which He once offered Himself to Thee upon the Cross, and now offers Himself to Thee on the Altar. And in union with these I offer Thee the virtues, merits, and graces of the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the Saints, together with all the good works of all men, and all the whole treasure of Thy holy Church. And I desire especially to add to these whatever of good I and those who are dear to me have ever done, and whatever afflictions we have suffered for Thy glory. And in union with this Sacrifice, and with all those which are offered to Thee all over the world, I offer to Thee this oblation, O Eternal Father, through Thy beloved Son, in the power of the Holy Ghost, to Thy supreme praise and glory, in acknowledgment of Thy supreme Majesty, and dominion, and in thanksgiving for all the benefits and the graces Thou hast ever bestowed on any creature, and in full reparation for every injury or insult ever offered to Thee by any whom Thy hands have made.
I offer it to Thee for the increase of the joy and glory of the sacred Humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in worship and veneration of all the mysteries of His life and death, for the increase of the glory and blessedness of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of all the Saints, especially my holy Patrons, and those whose memory we this day celebrate.
Lastly, I offer it to Thee on behalf of myself, a most miserable sinner, and for all my friends, whether in the order of nature or of grace [especially N.], and for all Christians living and departed [especially N.]; beseeching Thee that Thou wouldst deign to accept it as an adequate and sufficient thanksgiving for all the benefits and graces which Thou hast ever bestowed on our bodies and souls, to impart to us all the grace needful for us, to turn away from us all evil of body and of soul which might hinder our salvation, and to grant us perfect and entire remission of all our sins and negligences. For all these ends, I offer Thee all the love with which Jesus Christ Thy Son our Lord has ever loved Thee, and all the satisfaction He has made to Thee for our sins. Through Him and with Him and in Him be all honour and glory unto Thee, O God, Father Almighty, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever. Amen.
Here say the Our Father.
via catholictradition.org
Cords of sorrow draw me.
I am witness to the plight,
Man become beast,
Without wisdom or wit,
Licking his own blood,
Hungry, harrowed,
Stunned in horror.
The knots of revenge entangle,
Cry for evermore blood,
Ever more abasement,
Ever more widows,
Ever more orphans,
Ever more refuse and waste.
A crying child becomes hundreds,
Then thousands,
Then millions,
Left to wander,
Left to dissipate and hate.
Vengeance is sweeter than food,
To one who chooses to live
Without Love,
Without Light,
Without the Holy and the True,
For such is the abode of Sin,
And many the roads
Leading to its gate.
Bestial brutality,
Raging insanity,
Now reigns the malignant.
The disconsolate refuse all solace,
Wounds of the heart,
Wounds of the mind,
Wounds of the body of Man.
Look to the high mountain,
Eyes to the heavens,
Wake the long dead,
Who await the promised Banquet,
Those, who now know,
They are one Family of Man,
Divested of tribal allegiance,
Awaiting the One,
And coming, King.
Offer a sacrifice of prayer.
Pour forth the balm of Gilead.
Speak, in the tongue of angels,
The comfort of peoples,
Hope in the Darkness.
Humanity’s ties are stronger than its sins,
More numerous than the cords
That draw it down in the Dark Night.
For its One God
Is Father Forever.
by Joann Nelander
“Father forgive them they know not what they do.”
Be Holy! 