Tag Archives: Poetry

People of Praise

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Your people praise you, O Lord.
As points of light,
Scattered about
The surface of the Earth.
Together with angelic choirs,
That dot the firmament,
Your children sing.

With fish, and bird,
With rivers and seas,
With mountains,
And heavenly heights,
Creation sings in chorus,
Affirmation,
Acclamation,
And affection,
In sanctifying hosannas,
That fall as bountiful rain,
To water man and beast
With fruitful exaltation,
Multipling our delight,
As we magnify our God.

We are your mothers,
Fathers, sisters,
Brothers, friends
Of Your fold,
Returning praise,
And worship due
The Most High Lord
Of all creation.
In Your Light we
Become Your Light.

© 2012 Joann Nelander

One Last Prayer

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1

If I should die today,
What have I to say?
Perhaps just one last prayer.

Grant that my heart
Should leap and quicken,
Catching sight of You
Coming from afar.

With Your Father,
You have wooed, and waited,
Sent Your Spirit
Into my dry bones,
Raising me from dust
Once again
And, now, forevermore.

Here I am, my Hallowed three.
The Bridegoom cometh;
Come for me.

(c) 2012 Joann Nelander

One Solitary Thought

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My night and day have become one,
One solitary thought emblazoned on my heart.
You dance before me in myriad faces.
All are of Your becoming all.

The edges disappear as You, Lord, come into view.
You take the lead upon my stage, my time, my life.
I “Yes” You into being,
Although You have always been ,
But now You be in me.

The thorns of Your crown touch me first,
And I begin to bleed with You.
In agony, my body weeps for all loss,
Which I now gather in my prayer.

With beggar steps, I offer my feet for Your bath,
First of water, then of Blood, Your becoming in me.
“I live now not I, but Christ, lives in me, and Him crucified.”

By Joann Nelander copyright 2011
All rights reserved

Passion-Deed

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Lord, my tears are plentiful,
As I behold Thee in Thy rest.
Kneeling in poverty of spirit,
I am thrice blessed.

Your forever Union
With our Heavenly Father
Embraces me as the child,
That I am want to be,
Obedient, merciful and mild.

The Holy Spirit of God
Rests upon me,
Gifting me in sorrow for sin,
Raising me above the world,
And lifting me
To the lap of Abba Father,
With You, within.

Here in hallowed Presence,
My tears fall upon the garden,
You plant in my soul,
To water this consecrated plot
Replete with the promised fulfillment
That heals and makes me whole.

Already, but not yet,
Here in seed,
With You in Eternity,
Won by Cross and Passion-Deed.

©2012 Joann Nelander

Sunday Snippets–A Catholic Carnival

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We are Catholic bloggers sharing weekly our best posts. Join us to read and/or contribute. To participate, go to your blog and create a post titled Sunday Snippets–A Catholic Carnival. Make sure that the post links back here to RAnn’s, site, This, That and the Other Thing, and leave a link to your post.

As for me, I am a wife,a mother, a Sinai nurse (NYC – 1962),a poet. Prayer and daily Mass feed me. Lioness  is my way of evangelizing, a persistent shout out for God.

My Posts for the past week:

Listening to You, O God

Jesus , Savior in Repose

My Cry, Your Heart, My God

Moments of Grace

Make of Me a Vessel

My Cry, Your Heart, My God

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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