Sincere God

I am a hypocrite because I sin,
I fear God but I'm not afraid of Him,
I am sincere yet know I'll sin again,
I first repent, I then sin on a whim.
I fear to displease God, but nature's call
for all my weakness often seems too strong,
this is a fallen world and I too fall,
then get up for I am not fallen long.
I won't stay down and wallow in despair,
God's all prepared to help me with His grace,
I reach for God, by faith I know He's there,
His mercy cleans my hypocritical face.
I'm not afraid to go to Him I fear,
for God's forgiveness always is sincere.

                          -- by Pete Voelz      6/07

Behind the Mask

You make the poor to challenge us to see
behind the mask the glory of Your face,
so that by helping them and thus You, we
can get, and be a giver of, Your grace.
You make some white, some black, some red, and brown,
so that beneath the color of our skin,
we see You, raise You up, not put You down,
and love the one united world we're in.
You make the sick, the lonely old, the young,
the dying ones, the crippled, and the crazed,
so that we dry their tears, and by their tongue,
the God of everyone can then be praised.
O Christ, that You abide in each is true,
so in each I may love and worship You.

                         -- by Pete Voelz         2/09

Soul Ship

Without You I'm a ship without a sail,
the breeze blows through the rigging with no force,
I cannot go to seek my Holy Grail,
so tossed about that I'm without a course.
O God, You man my rudder and my wheel,
I sail astray without a way to steer,
no sure and prudent hand to set my keel,
between the rock of love and pool of fear.
O God, You are my quadrant and my star,
that speeds above to the goal of my trip.
to give me courage here to journey far,
that leads with love the lost soul of my ship.
Lord, stow my doubt as I set out to sea,
so I may steer safe passage clear to Thee.

                          -- by Pete Voelz      4/09

More or Less Faith

The less God does for me, my faith is more,
the more God does, the less of faith I need.
If God did all, it seems my faith would soar,
yet there would then be nothing to concede.
What if for us God parted every sea?
There would be little left for us to do.
What if we fell and God just let us be?
Our faith would have to then be strong and true.
God rations out His grace, knowing we are
so fickle in our faith if graced too much;
then rations out our troubles just so far,
so that our faith and needs at least can touch.
God, grace me more, yet boost my faith, I pray,
to keep both faith and grace strong all the way.

                          -- by Pete Voelz       3/06

Perfect God

What is the best part of a perfect God?
That God is goodness with no hint of bad?
That He is truth without a false facade?
That God is happiness, so never sad?
That He is beauty with no ugly side?
That God is loving and thus full of care?
That He is honest with no thing to hide?
That God is loyal and so always there?
St. John defined Him once, that God is love,
and perfect, with no parts, He is one whole,
then we conclude that He's all the above,
though one good part is God lives in my soul.
I like God best as giver and forgiver,
for giving me forgiveness for forever.

                          -- by Pete Voelz        1/05

God Person

O God, it's true You are a Person too,
a friend Who loves me, and Who I love back;
we stick together, You and I, like glue,
and help each other under an attack.
In many ways You are the same as I,
like You, I love, and just like me, You care,
through thick and thin alike we laugh and cry,
in common my experience we share.
Friends, comrades, buddies, pals, so close we are,
yet smarter than me--like You read my mind,
though Your revealed Word isn't very far,
and I can feel Your heartfelt love so kind.
In Eucharist I do meet all of You,
and I hope soon we'll meet in person too.

                              -- by Pete Voelz       7/06

Poor Christ

Christ was made poor so He could make us rich,
though He was God, He made Himself a man,
He emptied out Himself so He could switch,
somehow He lept so infinite a span.
So Christ became a slave and left His heaven,
came down so far from His infinity,
to raise us up, how much we have been given,
His heaven and part of His divinity.
We hope for that from Him, it is our goal,
He gives us His rich favor, strength and grace,
the riches of His cross to save our soul,
a sojourn brief, then meet Him face to face.
For all Your love and richest gifts galore,
let my response, O Christ, not be too poor.

                           -- by Pete Voelz       12/07

Weak Love

I love You with my strength, for what it's worth,
mostly, O God, I love You with my weakness;
if of great courage, Lord, I have a dearth,
at least I can just offer You my meekness.
Your foolishness, O God, is wiser than
the wisdom that we claim but ends up foolish,
and so I'll love You any way I can,
if it may even make me seem uncoolish.
My love, O Lord, might not appear so strong,
but then love isn't something that You measure,
my weak love isn't wide or deep or long,
but I have faith it's something that You treasure.
O God, my words and love are often silly,
but they come from my heart, if willy-nilly.

                          -- by Pete Voelz       5/08

What Can I Say?

What can I say of God Who makes the rain?
Who brings the light and fire from our sun
to join with gentle earth to make the grain
from tiny seeds we harvest by the ton?
What can I say of God Who makes me live,
Who makes me work down to my little toe,
Who gives me talents so I too can give,
and beef and bun and fries and fun to go?
Who does not stop wtih just the physical,
a mind to know the things I'm writing of,
a soul to seek and see a miracle,
a joyful heart to feel a sea of love?
I say thanks, Lord, for all You share with me,
and share with You my love and loyalty.

                    -- by Pete Voelz       11/08

Mundane God

Where's God in daily life, in the mundane?
So much is petty, boring, so routine.
Though God sustains each bug, each drop of rain,
He sets His law and does not intervene.
As great the care God gives to sparrows here,
much more to me as He counts every hair,
and as each sparrow soon will disappear,
for you, my soul, how really great His care.
God loves me so, I'm in His image made,
His loving care lasts to infinity;
if His good care for me will never fade,
each moment of my life must precious be.
So, God, Whose grace glows in each drop of rain,
let me no more malign my life mundane.

                               -- by Pete Voelz       6/07

God's Dark

God keeps us in the dark to curb our pride.
What if we knew the workings of our soul,
or knew the day and hour and way we died,
or could put everything in our control?
We'd be like God, or we would think we were,
and how much better off would we then be?
God doles His truth out in a kind of blur,
so there will always be some mystery.
Does not our perfect God know what is best?
We need some dark so there's not so much light,
we do not need to fathom all the rest,
God tells enough so we know wrong from right.
O Lord, I leave to You what You release,
I'll take what You give me and be at peace.

                            -- by Pete Voelz       4/09

Humbly Feeble

My feeble prayer can humbly win my soul,
prayer's never far from true humility,
though little, I am still in my control,
God made me free to call the shots for me.
Still God does not give up without a fight,
free does not mean God lets us all alone,
He loves and cares for us with all His might,
and we don't win salvation on our own.
My feeble prayer connects me to His will,
I play my hand, but He is still my ace,
if I indulge, He always pays the bill,
if I repent and scramble for His grace.
If I can't pray well, Lord, I feebly can,
and You still listen to me man-to-man.

                         -- by Pete Voelz       4/09

God's Feast

O God, You have a feast, I want Your food,
You have the most delicious things to eat,
a toast to every taste You do include,
all hunger gone and every bite so sweet.
O God, You have a treasure I desire,
like some crowned beauty, gemmed, bejeweled and pearled,
as gold and silver tested in the fire,
Your wealth's worth more than all our wealthy world.
O God, You have the peace we hunger for,
the power to bring an end to all our pain,
I want the fullness where we want no more,
the satisfaction with no more to gain.
O Lord, let me let go the world and trade
its lures for Yours that never ever fade.

                            -- by Pete Voelz          1/09

Explicit God

I met Explicit God in church today;
He crossed my palm and finger, lip and tongue.
Implicit God put on His same display--
pumped oxygen to brain, blood-heart, air-lung.

Explicit God created dust and soul--
this Yahweh-Spirit-Word Divinity--
explicitly for senses to control,
 implicit in His own infinity.

Explicit God comes when I call His name,
His eye and ear tuned fully to my prayer.
While quiet Implicit God plays out His game,
to charm my molecules all unaware.

When His picked people lived in sand as slaves,
Explicit God led thousands through the sea.
The talking Burning Bush vowed from their graves
Implicit Messiah-God would set them free.

Explicit old Jehovah forged on stone
His Ten Commandments quite explicitly;
sweet Jesus modified their fearsome tone
to love embedded there implicitly.

Two thousand years ago Explicit God
was born, went wild, and died upon a cross.
As tame Implicit God took goldenrod
and brought our nose hayfever-albatross.

I clothed Explicit God and gave Him bread,
a common stranger though I knew Him well,
while cold Implicit God allowed instead
the ranks of hungry naked ones to swell.

Implicit God has powers beyond my ken
to make all right by His theophany;
His simple glance could save a million men,
while dear Explicit God relies on me.

Explicit God walked on the water that
Implicit God created long ago;
He calmed the winds with only His fiat,
where calm Implicit God had made them blow.

Explicit God arose from death to sky,
while down Implicit God came with all grace
to guide, to aid, to bless, to sanctify
the Church Explicit God left time and space.

Explicit God, so warm, so clear to see,
defers to all Implicit God wants done.
Implicit God takes His transcendency
and subjects all to His Explicit Son.

If facts make dear Explicit God so real,
Implicit God from all eternity
demands our faith be more than what we feel
and fuses both in holy harmony.

Our hidden God's explicit universe
may sometimes hint at distinct gods of three,
but implicit in our world is the reverse--
Their most explicit Triune unity.

Dear hidden Christ within explicit bread,
lodged there by words You said explicitly,
my senses, so explicitly misled,
give way to my explicit faith in Thee.

O unseen, silent unexplicit God,
Whose Spirit speaks so strong inside my soul,
I see implicitly Your sovereign rod,
that steers me to our most explicit goal.

                           -- by Pete Voelz         2000

The Debt of Love

Whoever loves me, I owe them a debt,
though often love's a hard gift to repay,
for love is given not for what You get,
yet love attracts an answer to its sway,
All undeserving I'm unworthy of
the love I've been allotted near or far,
and whether from down here or up above,
I haven't earned this feeling like a star.
Love draws a strong desire from its charm
to render love back to those loving me,
and try hard not to do them any harm,
what's best for them can be a mystery.
If I can't bring them love for all my care,
 let me at least bring God to them in prayer.

                        -- by Pete Voelz         6/07

Best Love

Love's not the best love loving who loves you,
that's but the easiest love if love’s to be.
What is the love that is for sure most true?
To love those we don't know, nor even see.
Love's not just feelings pulsing in the heart,
it's a decision that we have in mind,
and then the heart's commitment from the start,
proved by our action, anything but blind.
Since God is love, all true love comes from Him,
and we love best when that's the kind we show.
Our faith tells us God is love's synonym,
the more we love, the more like God we grow.
Since we could see all men eventually,
the best is to love Him we no can see.

                           -- by Pete Voelz      5/06

Too Much God

O God of love, is there too much of You?
I know too much of anything is bad,
but being God, all things You say are true,
so too much truth and love can make me mad?
In truth, is it not just my love for sin
that lets me say there’s too much truth and love?
What makes this contradiction that I’m in
is I think from below, not from above.
Imagination’s lacking in me here,
I fail to see that God is everywhere,
that love and truth should not cause me to fear,
there can’t be too much God, the only there.
I stretch too much my freedom and my pride,
when from this “too much” God I try to hide.

                         -- by Pete Voelz       9/14/11

Broken Me

Why should You care about my brokenness,
what do You see in me that makes You care?
O God, You know I've made it such a mess,
to ask for help from You, I hardly dare.
You look at me and see the one You made,
from dust and love You once created me,
to set me loose, brave God, You weren't afraid,
"Fear not! Your sins bring you humility."
So how should I respond to love so great?
Repair my wrongs and turn back toward Your face,
kneel humbly down before it is too late,
bring to my cares Your mercy and Your grace.
O God, You make my brokenness like new,
as I return my wayward soul to You.

                           -- by Pete Voelz     3/08

Fear and Love

How do I know my fear of God is right?
There is good fear like reverance and awe,
fear of the Lord, His justice and His might,
fear of just punishments and righteous law.
Yet God is love, and does not love trump fear?
And does not fear drive us from love away?
Yet don't we fear to hurt One we revere?
And fear helps us control our feet of clay.
With God a healthy fear is not a crutch,
and when we sin, fear helps us to repent,
without respect we do not love God much,
good fear and love are meant to complement.
I doubt, O God, I'll get my due reward
without true love and due fear of the Lord.

                            -- by Pete Voelz       6/08

Prayer Trip

I do not need to travel
to go a mighty way,
all I do is fold my hands
and then proceed to pray.

God sends a coach to meet me
with curtains at the side
so no one sees me praying
no matter where I bide.

High above the snowpeaks
the warm stars wink at me
as back and forth I pray my way
here to infinity.

I share my silent secrets in
a galactic catecomb;
then tired from the trip, I call
an Amen to ride home.

         -- by Pete Voelz     06

Divinely Worthy

May I ask why I’m here, unworthy I,
the love that made me still extends to me,
why I yet live while worthy others die,
be given time so worthy I can be?
We sinners know what God’s forgiveness is,
and mercy too, a thing we don’t deserve,
two gifts divine that are not only His,
but served to us, to others we might serve.
Of course, we know, Lord, they’re unworthy too,
I don’t deserve Your mercy, they don’t mine,
such love and mercy only come from You,
just giving them, I too become divine.
Lord, You show how to make a worthy me,
by teaching gifts of Your divinity.

                       -- by Pete Voelz     9/10/11

Reach Beyond

I reach beyond because there's more to You,
beyond my thoughts and words, there's always more,
the brightest, clearest sky I can't see through,
just as beyond the stars I cannot soar.
It's You, O God, Who pierces through it all,
Your thoughts and words can everything express,
You visit us no matter if we're small,
the only word we need to say is "Yes".
Yet if I search beyond I sometimes see
some insight through a space You let me peek,
and, like a sunbeam sliver suddenly,
breaks on my soul the insight that I seek.
As I raise eyes and see, though slight and fleet,
You sail the space between so we can meet.

                                    -- by Pete Voelz     6/06

My Roots

In growing, should I keep faith with my roots?
Should I re-make me just because I'm smart?
For some good things there are no substitutes,
should I forget the One Who made my heart?
Now that I'm big, I want to stretch my legs,
with independence, I want to be free,
but must I drain my wine glass to the dregs,
rejecting those who put their stamp on me?
I am supposed to stand on my two feet,
firm on my roots of faith and family deep,
it matters not what fortune, friends I meet,
I still have many promises to keep.
O God, You are the taproot of my soul,
despite my power, I want You in control.

                      -- by Pete Voelz        3/08

Logic and Grace

With God our feeble logic isn't tight,
He wants us to use heart as well as mind,
of course, we're supposed to think with all our might,
but most of all He wants us to be kind.
Love's how He asks us to respond to grace,
God gives us faith so we love Him the most;
how can our reason logically keep pace
with love for Father, Son and Holy Ghost?
God hopes we use our whole humanity,
in our best way to utilize each part,
to study, choose and feel and pray so free,
and then to will to love with all our heart.
O God, I pray I put my trust in You,
to speak what's true and then to do it too.

                        -- by Pete Voelz       3/08

Goodness Rules

God’s goodness rules--because God is all good--
makes perfect sense the eyes of faith can see;
that good will win is clearly understood,
no hope, no life without good’s victory.
Though evil’s there, God brings good out of bad,
and God, with His great power for good, makes sure
the good is greater, and so leaves us glad
we can help beat the bad and its allure.
In battling evil here, how do we share
in fixing that God’s good will always win?
We start with faith, then use the might of prayer,
God’s good with ours defeats the world and sin.
O Lord, let me help fight the bad with You,
for I believe “God’s goodness rules” is true.

                               -- by Pete Voelz       9/5/11

Beloved One

John writes he's the disciple Jesus loved,
referring to himself without a name,
as if, unlike the rest, St. John had shoved
himself into first place, his claim to fame.
How strange, I think, why does he write this way,
since Jesus loved the others too we know?
So what exactly does he mean to say,
unequal love that Jesus meant to show?
Perhaps it was how Jesus made him feel,
that Christ his hero held him in such thrall
he felt loved in a human way so real,
so was the one who loved Christ most of all.
O Christ, let me love You so all might see
that You're the One beloved most by me.

                              -- by Pete Voelz       2/07

The Dawning of the Light

(With a bow to poet Dylan Thomas)

Rejoice, Rejoice the dawning of the light,
when I am born into eternity,
when welcome death will wipe away the night,
and I will see His vast infinity.
O weary soul, don't worry where you'll go,
hold fast your faith that everything is true,
trust in the One who's taught you all you know,
God always keeps His promises to you.
Don't weep in this unhappy vale of tears,
care not for all we will have sacrificed,
O precious soul, just set aside your fears,
let go into the loving arms of Christ.
Rage not against the dying of the night,
rejoice, rejoice my rising into light.

                     -- by Pete Voelz       3/07

Greatest Gift

O God, what is Your greatest gift of all?
You give me life, Creation fully blest,
and heaven undeserved after the Fall,
where You've invited me to be Your guest.
Since You are love, then love must be the one,
yet in what way is Your love best expressed?
By Your omnipotence and all You've done,
by Your omniscience too, I'm most impressed.
Your greatest gift is what You show to me,
what I'm more grateful for than all the rest,
that lets me come into eternity--
forgiveness for the sins that I've confessed.
O God, so merciful, You crib my test,
Your mercy is the gift I love the best.

                         -- by Pete Voelz       3/07

(Dedicated to St. Maria Faustina Kowalska,
to whom Christ appeared and told her His
greatest quality was mercy, leading to the Feast
of Divine Mercy, the first Sunday after Easter.)

Thanks, God

I thank You, God, for all the gifts You've given,
for my existence, self and soul and life,
for faith and Church and baptism, oh, and heaven,
for son and daughter, grandkids, loving wife,
for good folk, working father, caring mother,
for teachers, nuns and priests, for all my school,
for family and dear sister and dear brother,
for my good country and for those who rule.
I thank You for good friends from far and near,
O God, for all my needs that You fulfull,
for all my talents used in my career,
for all Your goodness, good laws, and good will.
You shower me with gifts both good and true,
so, Lord, I thank You most of all for You.

                            -- by Pete Voelz         4/06

God's Jugular

O God, what is Your jugular, let me know,
tell me the center of Your target, please,
what is the essence of Your ebb and flow,  
where is the best of You that I can seize?
If I should have the best the world can give,
all wealth, all fun do not bring happiness,
it's not for what, but rather how we live,
not who we are or what we may possess.
It's part of You, O God, I want to own,
I can't have all, You are too big for me,
I ask Your heart, You will not give a stone,
I want to really be, not not to be.
Your jugular love, before I pray for it,
already, Lord, You’ve given every bit.

                    -- by PeteVoelz           1/08