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Fire of Love,
O steadfast Love,
Forge of me
Enduring Love,
As chains, whose links are born
In fire and flame.Hammered by blows,
That in the end form
And deliver my frame.Claim my metal
From the molten chaos
To shape and save me,
Never more, misshapen,
Wanton, amorphous,
Hardness of heart.Copyright © 2011 Joann Nelander All rights reserved
Fleeting prayers
Known but to God
Recorded in His Heart.
Nothing wasted,
all in flower,
bearing fruit,
supplying for the need
of His Church.
throughout Time,
Nothing wasted,
nothing forgotten,
all in flower,
all bearing fruit.
By Joann Nelander
Lord, I’ m offering You a new day.
Already, You know,
‘this isn’t going to be pretty.’
I count on You to do what You have always done.
Take the morsels which Your hand has touched.
As for the rest,
with one mighty exhalation of Holy Breath
Spirit the chaff away.
At day’s end,
as with all my yesterdays,
I will lay my head upon Your Breast,
and sweetly count our hours.
By Joann Nelander
Christ and Mary Magdalene by Peter Paul Rubens
Take delight in me, dear Lord.
How can one so foul give You pleasure?
I can not please You as I am in my aloneness.
Unite me then to Your Mercy.
Employ Your Justice in the measure of my want,
For I am of the dust,
And have been given no goodness apart from You.
Deem to come to my aid.
In anticipation of Your visitation
Send Your advance guard,
Saints and angels to clothe me
For the presence of a King.
Strip me of my unloveliness.
Set me free from dalliance and despair.
You Who are fire
Purify by Love and True Life.
Laugh at the enemy at my gate,
Disarm the Foe by the wonder of Your Holiness.
See me here in my blood guilt,
And do not despise my wretchedness,
But embrace me as the child of holy consummation
Born of Your Passion.
Delight in me, O Ancient of Days,
Creative Word , seal my fate,
Speak that I might stand forth,
The image of Your Being.
Laugh and delight at the work of Your hands.
As a newborn gives joy to mother and father,
Take pleasure in Your pains on my behalf,
The labor of Your Love.
By Joann Nelander
Prayer to St. Anthony for Healing of a Spouse
O Glorious St. Anthony, you live now in unity with Jesus Christ, the Divine Physician and the healer of all human ills. I come to you today to ask for your powerful intercession on behalf of my beloved spouse (mention name), who seeks to be restored to good health.
The years we have shared, and the love we have known, is precious to me, and my heart breaks in my helplessness. But I believe that with the Lord all things are possible.
Compassionate Saint, comfort me in my distress and obtain blessings for my beloved spouse so that (name) may be quickly and completely restored to health. Amen.
Praise like cascading waters, like rushing rivers,
Praise like flying birds, and flight of eagles.
Praise like thundering herds cross vast expanse.
Praise written cross skies in clouds and drifting mists.
Praise with the quaking aspen. Praise golden and blissful.
Praise to the heavens, to the highest heavens.
Heartfelt and hallowed, on angels’ wings and from the mouths of babes.
Hush; listen in silence.
Creation, on tip toe, peering beyond Time to Eternity.Time poised on the brink of the Eternal, awaiting Your Word.
Praise from the heart, one poor and yearning heart.
Come, O Immortal. Come!
By Joann Nelander
Be Holy! 