Tag Archives: Reflections

Listening and Silent

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It seems…
I am always talking to You,
That I am always with You,
And have no doubt
You are with me,
Listening and silent.

I am an endless monologue.
You, hovering Spirit,
Wordlessly eloquent
Abide.
You are Presence and Truth,
Listening and silent,
Thunderously silent,
Save for the stirring of my heart,
And the sometime rush of thought,
Coming, as it were,
From the bowels of my being
With frightening conviction,
And challenging my reticence
To speak aloud
The thoughts of solitude.

Reluctant always
To go about,
And leave the cloister of my heart,
Where in Your chambers I find,
And hold dear,
Private audience with the King,

The world without is a noisy charade,
And woos the pride of me take center stage.
Where suddenly I realize
I have been talking much, too much,
To my regret.

I, naggingly, suspect
I have diminished
What was my treasure
And ceased to learn.
Cacophany of me,
I cease to learn,
And simply rearrange,
That with which I am familiar.

Where do prophet, poet and a would be recluse
Find voice if not in You,
Rejecting even audience
To find You in my silence,
Your silence.

©2012 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved

Sunday Snippets – a Catholic Carnival

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It’ time for Sunday Snippets, Catholic bloggers sharing our posts.

To participate: from your blog, create a post with links to the posts from the last week that you want to share, entitle it, “Sunday Snippets – a Catholic Carnival”, link back to the Sunday Snippets post at RAnn’s site,  This, That and the Other Thing, there leave a link to your post with your week’s best.

About me, I am a wife, a mother, a Sinai Nurse. I do photography, paint, write and pray.

My Posts for the past week:

Longinus, Soldier Saint

Wilderness of Sin

Mary, the Means by the Will of God

A Prayer in Adoration

Holy of Holies

Intimacy of Prayer

New Books by Sr. LaDonna M. Pinkelman OSF – Franciscan Flowers and Franciscan Flowers ll

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Franciscan_Flowers_Cover_for_Kindle Franciscan_Flowers_I_Cover_for_Kindle(2)

Kindle editions:

Franciscan Flowers

Franciscan Flowers ll

Christmas would be a lovely time to present a gift of poetry, prayer and praise.:

Prayers, prose and poetry of Sr. LaDonna M. Pinkelman OSF, gleaned over a period of many years of journaling. Franciscan Flowers ll continues where she left off in her previous work, Franciscan Flowers, to offer her gifts of prayer, poetry and prose, in the hope of inspiring love, and trust for the Lord, and further act upon her desire to participate in the new evangelization called for at the beginning of the Third Millennium by Pope John Paul ll, and echoed by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. Being even the smallest part of this brings her great joy.

Eyes of My Soul

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O eyes of my soul,
Eyes of my spirit,
Eyes of my heart,
See!

See the glory revealed
In all creation.
See the Son
Hidden in the least
To the greatest.

Recognize the Christ,
Lord of all.
Lord over the earth
Lord over the sea
Lord raised above the heavens.

Enthrone Him, King,
King of your soul,
King of your spirit,
King of your heart.

As light illuminates,
See that you are a new creation.
See, in this moment,
As in the breaking of the Bread.

Copyright 2013 Joann Nelander
All rights reserved

​Ebola VS. African Horse Sickness. ​(horses can’t vote!)

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​Ebola VS. African Horse Sickness. ​(horses can’t vote!)

Veterinarian’s Letter from Lewiston, Idaho to the Editor

The present Ebola crisis in the world is frightening. I have submitted the following letter to the editor of the Lewiston Morning Tribune:

Editor, Lewiston Morning Tribune:

If I wish to import a horse into the United States from Liberia or any African country other than Morocco, the horse needs to undergo a 60 day quarantine period at a USDA approved quarantine facility prior to mingling with the general population of horses in this country. Africa has a disease called African Horse Sickness that does not exist in the US; this is the way we have kept it out of this country. African Horse Sickness does not cause disease in people, only horses; our government has determined that it would be devastating to the US horse industry if it were to come here.

The United States (and virtually all other countries) require a myriad of tests and often quarantine prior to bringing in a foreign animal.

I cannot legally cross state lines in the United States with a horse or cow without a health certificate signed by a USDA accredited veterinarian stating that the animal has been inspected and found free of infectious disease. In most cases blood tests are also required. In fact I cannot legally cross the Snake River and ride my horse in Idaho without a health certificate and a negative blood test for Equine Infectious Anemia.

I’m not complaining; the United States of America, the States of Idaho and Washington, as well as the other 48 states take the health of our livestock very seriously, and we have a very good record at keeping foreign animal diseases out of our country. I am happy to do my part to maintain biosecurity in our animal population.

If I am a resident of Liberia incubating Ebola, to enter the United States all I need to do is present a valid visa, and lie when asked if I have been exposed to Ebola. Within hours (no quarantine required) I can be walking the streets of any city in the United States.

I feel very fortunate to live in a country that values our animals so highly.

David A. Rustebakke, DVM

A Drop in the Ocean

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A drop in the ocean of the Lord,
Minuscule,
Tear-sized,
Hardly felt upon the cheek,
Brushed away
To fall into the river of Your love.

Once alone,
Barely a something,
Really “a nothing”,
A lonely singularity,
But felt upon a Heart.

The tears of others,
Conjoined,
Confusion,
Profusion,
Holy joy in headlong rush,
Whisked over rock and rubble,
Carried by unseen arms,
Pressed on
By force of a Holy Will.

Cascades’ roar arousing fear,
Bewilderment,
Mingled vigor,
Hope rises to the surface
And churns the deep.

Fate creates a splash
And a rivulet of escape,
An instant of choice,
Puddle or precipice?

I hang upon a prayer,
Borne aloft in new fall,
Truly free fall,
Onto the rushing stream,
And weeping humanity prevails.

One drop,
Now millions,
Energy,
Direction,
Momentum,
Kinetic kaleidoscope,
Mirroring Divine power.

The tide of many waters,
Convergence,
At the edge,
And then the fall,
Not like the first,
In free abandonment.

One drop,
Transformed by divine law,
Holy Obedience.
Tumultuous streams
Carve the land without,
And all within.

Fertile flood of holy tears,
Serve now His Plan,
A drop in the ocean of God.

Copyright 2014 Joann Nelander

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Joann Nelander
lionessblog.com