Tag Archives: Religion and Spirituality

Endeavor

by

I love the way
You keep trying
To take the beautiful,
And make it more beautiful.

Is there no city on a hill,
No mountain grandeur,
Nor sweeping vista,
That can truly satisfy,
In its worldly reality?
Having travelled all byways,
Having scaled the heights,
Plumbed the depths
As far as you dare,
Seek still you will.
You want yet more.
You always will.

Memory does not suffice,
Camera and canvas fail.
Pixels and pigments,
Even when teased to their ends,
Falter and fall short
Of the image
Engraved on your heart.

It is as though,
At some level,
You intuit.
You fear.
You suspect.
No, you truly know.

There will always be,
One more quest,
Another dream,
Perfecting,
The not yet perfect.

You glimpse the Creator in creating.
With moon and stars,
With waterfall and rainbow,
With the wilderness and the wild,
You point.

For the sum of all,
Sunrises and sunsets,
Venues and vistas,
Still will not equal,
Just simply point.

You rise to the challenge,
Build to the crescendo,
And then must wait,
Wait till the Perfect comes.

At last,
At long, long last,
To know
The One to whom creation points
To know at last
The One True,
All Beautiful,
God.

© 2016 Joann Nelander

Eyes

by

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.’

Child of the Cross

by

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 at the Liturgy of the Eucharist 

by

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

Heart of Love

by

Write my love upon my heart
That I might sign it with my life’s blood,
Coursing through its chambers,
Rushing to serve and sing to You.

With every beat,
With every pulsation,
Carry my persuasions to the ends of my being,
Returning as tides to touch anew Your Heart,
United in Spirit,
Kissing each movement and moment,
As I spread myself upon Your hidden shores,
To embrace and race,
In hurried pulse to do You Will
As my own,
Reaching for eternity.

With a kiss upon the brow
Crown all my moments
With the fiat I proffer
In Your ever Present Now.

Heart of Love,
Be in me.
Sighed and signed,
Joann

Dear Reader,
Make my prayer your prayer,
By placing it beside mine,
And together,
We shall love Him best.

Copyright 2016 Joann Nelander

Memories Eternal – a Prayer

by

May I live with Mary in my heart this day.
May her thoughts,
And precious memories of You, dear Jesus,
Resound in my mind and fill my soul,
That even Angels in flight,
And the Triumphant in Heaven,
Stop to listen and love with me.
Amen