Tag Archives: Prayer

Listening to You, O God

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I am listening, O God,
I am listening.

As my ear rests upon Your Breast,
The throbbing of Your Heart, a plaintiff call, 
Sounds a sacred prayer
In unending rhythm, eternal.

Though stopped
In Your willed bodily Death,
It’s steady beat pierced the earth,
As Your Spirit descended to captivate
Those justified by Your Blood,
The prize of Salvation won upon Calvary’s mount.

High ridged mountains of prayer
Span the course of centuries,
As I now in my ordained place,
Offer my will to You in this my time.

As that same once spent Blood,
Now courses through my veins
In sweet Communion,
Speak peace to me.

© 2011 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved.

In Baptism

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The flood waters of heaven
Pour over me.
Your Death holds me fast,
Drawing body and soul,
Down in Your Dying.

Flood gates open,
And yet, the sea parts.
By Your Spirit I pass over.
The soul that gives life to my body,
Now rises,
Your Spirit, giving Life to my soul.

More than a corpse
Raised from the dead,
I rise a priest, a prophet and a king,
Betrothed and free to be
What You would make of me.

copyright 2015 Joann Nelander

Jesus, Haven of My Heart

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Jesus, I place myself
In the holy confines
Of Your Sacred Heart.

Heart of my heart,
Draw heaven to me.
Surround me with friends
Of Your choosing,
That my mind might be full
Of the conversation of saints.

The world is so much with me.
It is temptress and shallow.
I long for the deep
Of Your thoughts,
To speak peace and refuge
In my wilderness.

You are the haven of my soul,
The Paradise once lost,
But now given
With My daily Bread.

Exile holds no fear
For You surround me.
You are my consolation
And marrow of my bones,
Strength of my strength.

Your Holy Spirit comes to me
And turns my tears to laughter.
In a valley of vanity and pride,
Your Humanity and Humility
Take me by the hand and heart
To dwell within and be my home.

©2012 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved

Inheritance

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“It is finished.
Into Your Hands,
I commend my spirit.”
The Tree of Eden,
Poison swallowed,
By the Tree of Golgotha.

Christ, the New Adam,
Mankind begun anew,
Fellowship restored and more.
Freed from the husks of pigs
Returned to the Father’s House.
Witness the death of Death.

Lay Your Head upon my lap,
That I may hold You,
Rock You,
Cradle You in my arms.
I arrange Your Hair,
And wash the Blood,
Clinging to You,
Mourning over You,
As Mother Mary.

Open side of Jesus
Receive me.
Hide me,
In the cave of Your Heart.
I throw off my idols.
My sin is finished,
Nailed to Your Cross.

“It is finished,”
My war against You,
The burden and the price,
Life born in Your dying,
And swaddled in faith’s dark night.

The Church born
From Your pierced side.
As a fountain for the Ages,
Spilling forth
The wine of Crushed Grapes.

New Day!
Eternal Spring!
“Into Your Hands,
I commend My Spirit.”
Love has the last word.

Copyright 2012 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved

Divine Office

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DivineOffice.org

The Robe

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Lord of the centuries,
Knit, of our pain, the knots,
That mysteriously arrange themselves
Across our days.

Guide, by unseen fingers,
Each little pearl,
To form a cloth
Alive with Your Golden threads,
Infinitely more than happenstance or tragedy.

Each strand of Time a mystery,
Bathed in trial and tears,
Yet rich in Awe,
Resplendent in Beauty,
And the gracious beneficence
Of sacrificial love.

Whole cloth,
Woven into a seamless robe,
You don in majesty,
Humble and meek in triumph o’er our graves,
As Life welcomes to the Banquet,
Our souls, now clad in bodies,
One with Your Own.

© 2015 Joann Nelander