O St. Joseph,
The humble one,
Unite your prayers
To Our Lord Jesus
With those of
The Holy Virgin,
And implore Him
To give each of us
What you gave to
Your Holy Family:
Strength to lead,
Love to inspire,
Wisdom to guide.
Amen.
SILENT KNIGHT, HOLY KNIGHT /
St. Joseph the Silent Knight,
Holy man of common sense,
You preached the gospel,
Though often without words,
If you had the knowledge,
You answered your neighbor,
If not, then through divine wisdom
You put your hand over your mouth;
Teach me how to hold my tongue,
To follow the Spirit’s lead,
Instead of getting in trouble
By rashly running ahead of Him;
It’s pleasant to converse,
But it’s far better to be prudent.
THE KNIGHT /
Christmas,
The night of Christ,
The breathtaking eve when the
Babe of the Incarnation
Heroically came to save us.
St. Joseph,
The Knight of Christ,
The brave, holy man that the
Babe of the Incarnation
Trusted wholeheartedly.
TWO HOUSES /
A HOUSE BUILT ON ROCK
A humble home was built
On a foundation of faith,
In the Town of Trust,
In the Province of Prudence,
On the rugged rock of
Divine Mercy:
The wild waves awoke
Like ferocious beasts
And beat against the
Formidable fortress,
Banging with watery fists,
But all to no avail --
Nothing could harm
This holy house of Love.
A HOUSE BUILT ON SAND
A castle of carousing was built
On a lazy beach in
The City of Cool,
In the Province of Popular,
On the slippery sand of
Fragile fear:
Then, a voracious
Tidal wave of temptation
Hungrily devoured the castle,
And a furious flood
Of thick red blood
Poured out in torrents,
Turning the green one red.
THE HOLY KNIGHT /
You protected the Babe of Light,
In Bethlehem’s most Holy Night.
The magi in their wise hands hold
Both sweet frankincense and gold,
But your strong courageous arms
Save Baby Jesus from all harms.
You are the knight of the Dove,
And on that Holy Night met Love.
Hellishly bloody Herod the Hater
Fears that he’s not the greater,
But you, oh most humble father,
With vainglory don’t even bother.
You protected the Babe of Light,
In Bethlehem’s most Holy Night.
TO ST. JOSEPH /
Your thick, wavy brown hair happily
Blows in the breeze of God’s will;
Your warm brown eyes twinkle with
Contentment, crinkling as you smile.
You protect the holy Babe from Herod’s
Hellish hands, which are dripping with blood;
In obedience, you help the Holy Family
Evade him and elusively escape to Egypt.
As a worker, you handle the wood of
God’s creation with gentle strength;
With industrious ingenuity, you use
God’s good gifts to serve others.
You shatter lustful temptation with your
Carpenter’s mallet of holy purity;
Then, as God’s valiant soldier, you slay
Selfishness with the sword of surrender.
In your loving example, you show little Jesus
how to be a good son to His mother;
With your humble heart, you teach Love
How to love, and the angels are amazed.
OUR LADY OF JOY /
As she serenely stepped out of the upper
room, she rejoiced in a fresh new day,
She looked about her peaceful surroundings,
drinking in the delicious goodness of God;
Clusters of clouds casually wafted by, so low
that they brushed the pinnacle of the temple,
They passed by like eager pilgrims, Eucharistic
white against the bright blue morning sky;
Later that morning, she and the Apostles were
deeply immersed in prayer when, suddenly,
She inhaled the sweet scent of God’s presence,
and joyfully breathed in the Lord’s love;
The balmy breeze of grace swirled around her
and compassionately caressed her,
She reflected on God’s glorious grandeur,
and His magnificence soaked into her soul;
Then, the Word rushed through them all,
as the Holy Spirit swiftly swooped down,
The bold beautiful breeze of heavenly hope
placidly filled the sails of their souls;
The Paraclete, like a powerful, whirling wind,
spectacularly sparked the wicks of their
Souls, and ignited the fire of love, which
rippled through and rhymed in their hearts;
Then, Our Lady’s heart was passionately,
preciously pierced by the sweet sword
Of the Spirit; her soul, suddenly
brimming with God’s majestic mercy,
Soared in a spiraling celestial
crescendo of God’s love for her;
With peaceful confidence, her heart,
like a fiery supernova, exploded with
Feelings of love, joy, and peace,
of patience, kindness, and generosity;
Her smiling eyes then beheld the
flaming fire of Love resting on all, and as
She serenely surrendered all to the Spirit,
like a giddy geyser she gushed
Torrents of light-hearted laughter
and happy, heavenly tears; this golden
Cascade of pure love poured over
her soul like a warm, wonderful
Waterfall of holy honey; deep down
inside, the Spirit was strumming on
The harmonic harp of her heart, and
she was deliciously, delightfully deluged
By this overwhelming ocean of her
Jesus’ magnificent mercy and love;
The Light of the World had scattered
and defeated the dreary dark night.
OUR LADY OF DIVINE MERCY /
Trembling, I hid in your mantle, protected
From the dark night of unknowing;
You guided me up the steep, perilous path,
Towards the sparkling, starry heavens.
The demonic winds gusted, and with
Frightful ferocity thunder shook the air;
Serpentine lightning darted in the sky, and
Lava streams slithered down the slopes.
But then the Sun of God dazzlingly dawned,
And He put an end to the dark night;
Beams of bright light, both red and white,
Streamed soothingly into my soul.
Atop the summit, you took my hand,
And together we flew into the Light;
We laughed like merry little children,
Soaking in the sunshine of pure Mercy.
THE SUBMARINE /
The dastardly devil is like
An enemy submarine,
He cruises the surface of
The lukewarm sea, in the
Dark Night of Unknowing,
He doesn’t even try to hide,
Because most people
Don’t even bother to look for him,
Busied as they are with
Wasteful wars of words,
But when he sees that
Someone does recognize him,
He submerges into the
Darkest depths, and he
Wages war, but secretly,
Then he returns once again,
Peering through his periscope,
Looking for someone to devour
With the torpedoes of temptation.
EASTER AT EMMAUS /
Our heads hung low,
Saddened and perplexed
By the troubling events just
Three days prior in Jerusalem;
My companion and I were
Searching for the missing piece
Of the Messianic puzzle,
Not realizing that it was less
Than a stone’s throw away;
Then, when we turned around,
We found a man who was both
Wise and friendly, and He too
Was on the road to Emmaus;
As He spoke to us over the
Next several miles, the fire of
Heavenly hope began to rekindle
Within our souls once again,
So we invited Him to sup with us
When we arrived in Emmaus;
After the sun set over the hills,
The stars twinkled with delight as
The Son suddenly rose in our hearts,
For when He broke the bread,
He smiled His very gentle smile,
And we felt as if we had been
Born again.
THE RESURRECTION /
I turn around and before me you stand,
one whose robe is dazzlingly white,
As you speak my name and say “Mary,”
you forever shatter my deep dark night;
With great love, you bestow your peace upon me,
through your wonderfully warm brown eyes,
Your merciful smile cheers my heart,
so that my soul can most sweetly arise;
In the joyful breeze of the Holy Spirit,
your flowing hair very gently swirls,
In my heart I totally surrender to you,
and for you this is a treasure of pearls.
THE CRUCIFIXION /
In a shadow of deep darkness, the Light
of the world hangs crooked on the cross,
A jagged crown of razor-thin thorns is
thrust maliciously into His throbbing head;
Bright-red blood and the fickle crowd’s
sour spittle trickle into His stinging eyes,
He licks His cracked lips, and He tastes
the bold bitter flavor of blood.
The Roman soldiers’ wild whips tore
and radically ripped Jesus’ holy flesh,
And now the sticky crusted wounds cling
to the weatherbeaten wood and ooze;
Knife-like nails puncture His hands and feet,
and make them look like cored apples,
His shoulders slump down, crushed under
the weight of every sin in human history.
The soldiers hellishly hammered the nails
into Jesus’ flesh, as if He were an animal,
Indescribable pain blasted through the
bones of His body like dynamite;
He now surrenders His body, mind, soul,
and spirit to the will of His Father,
He lovingly practices what He preached,
and He prays for His persecutors.
Jesus is high up, as if atop an isolated
island, surrounded by a sea of hate,
A cacophonous chorus of insults assails
His ears, and the smell of sin is in the air;
His mother, living in the dark night of
unknowing, silently waits and watches,
She kneels in total surrender, while a
sword of sorrow slashes her heavy heart.
In the afternoon, Golgotha is enveloped
in a mysterious murky darkness,
Then, when Jesus dies, the earth quakes
in violent anger at the murder of its Creator;
Rumbling and roaring, buildings catastrophically
crash and crumble to the ground,
The terrifying temblor forces the sanctuary’s
curtain to explosively burst apart.
That mysterious murky darkness remains
in the hearts of Jesus’ faithful followers,
Their entire worlds are seriously shaken,
and they are stunned and stupefied;
But on the third day, the nebulous fog
of uncertainty will finally dissolve,
On the third day, a heavenly ray of Light
will come, far brighter than the sun.
MARIAN PRAYER OF OFFERING FOR A PLENARY INDULGENCE /
O Lord of Love,
Through your holy grace,
I have wholehearted contrition,
And am free from all affection for sin,
And so, with a sincere heart,
I offer you this Our Father
And also this Hail Mary,
For the Holy Father’s intentions…
And along with these prayers,
Please accept my recent confession,
And this morning’s indulgenced work,
And reception of Holy Communion.
In short, I humbly request that
Through the sweet hands of
Our Lady of Love,
You accept the little gift of
This plenary indulgence,
Offered for the benefit of _____.
Amen.
SACRED ART /
Inspired by St. Francis of Assisi & St. John Paul II
Our Heavenly Father is the
Divine Artist, who paints
On the canvas of our souls,
When we surrender to Him,
He very gently and delicately dips
The brush of the Spirit into
The palette of the virtues,
And He colors our lives with Love;
God is beauty, and when we
Smudge our painting with the
Charcoal pencils of our sins,
He covers our faults with
His beauty – if we’re patient,
He refines and perfects us,
Making us a masterpiece.
THE AGONY OF UNREQUITED LOVE /
I love you, I love you
so very much,
more than you
can possibly imagine,
yet you carelessly
turn your back on me
and you ignore me,
living your busy life
as if I never existed;
now I kneel here
in this olive garden,
with my warm hands
clasped tightly together,
so deeply and so greatly
in love with you,
and my heart is breaking
because I want to share
my life with you,
my heart is nearly broken
because I love you,
and I painfully weep
hot tears for you,
and my sweat turns into
drops of blood --
all because of you.
BE STILL, and know that he is god /
In silence,
I long to hear
God’s Word,
And feel
God’s presence;
So when worry wails,
When anxiety assails,
I remember that God
Smiles upon us,
Compassionately,
And holds the world
Like a precious pearl
In His holy hands.
SILENT NIGHT: AN ANGEL'S PERSPECTIVE /
Here we find the epicenter of the holy earthquake
that destroys the sin of the centuries.
In jubilation, I swiftly and silently cruise through
the cool, crisp air on this holiest of holy nights,
Up above, high in the heavens, is the star of all stars,
powerfully pulsating with bursts of joy;
Below, in the countryside, the shepherds’ fires
crackle with contentment near Bethlehem,
For the Christ child, the Prince of Peace, has been
born in a lowly little stable in the city of David.
I am flanked by a merry multitude of fellow angels,
as we prepare for our descent into little Bethlehem,
From the cloud tops we cascade downward towards
the manger, like a waterfall of invisible light;
The shuffling shepherds who were so startled to
behold us now adore their newborn king on bent knees,
And the majestic magi marvel at the humility of the
Blessed Babe, the long-awaited holy Messiah.
St. Joseph thoughtfully covers the mild mother Mary,
to help heat her on this very chilly night,
The joyful Virgin warmly welcomes little Jesus,
covering Him with her tender kisses and caresses;
Blissful baby Jesus beams a bright smile, covering all
present with His most peaceful benevolence,
And we angels swirl and dance, and exultantly sing
and rejoice and praise the glory of the good God.
The holy family will live in the dark night of the unseen,
centered in the Light of Limitless Love.
SPIRALING THROUGH THE FOUR SEASONS /
Spiritual springtime blooms
With God’s sweet consolations,
As the holy breeze of the Spirit
Caresses our vine branches.
Spiritual summertime ripens with
The delicious fruit of the Spirit,
Bringing to our hungry world
God’s immeasurable love.
Spiritual autumn is a time to
Fall, on our knees in humility,
Understanding that death --
And resurrection -- are nearer.
Spiritual winter brings blessings,
Snowflakes both red and white,
Nourishing our needy souls with
Divine Mercy in the dark night.
Then, behold, the resurrection,
As spiritual springtime returns --
Yet sweeter -- and each year we
Spiral higher up towards Heaven.
UNEXPECTED JOURNEYS INTO DIVINE MERCY /
To escape -- like a coward --
The stranglehold of stress,
I try my best to sidestep
Inconvenient interruptions
Whose menacing thunder
Frightens me — yet why?
They lead me on a journey
To the God of surprises,
To Heaven’s horizon,
Where the sun’s streaming rays
Of radiant red and white are
Colored by Love’s divine mercy.
DIVINE UNION WITH THE DIVINE MERCY /
My soul surrenders to
The Spirit’s tender embrace,
And Love sweetly surges
Through my being with the
Warm wine of holiness;
With indescribable delight
My humbled heart
Bursts with heavenly joy,
Burning with passion for
The Crucified Christ,
Yearning for union with
The Divine Mercy.