Sunday, March 31, 2013

Going to the Well



What good is love if I don't feel its power,
if I don't touch the story it can tell?
Where do I go to quench a thirsty hour?
When I am dry, I go back to the well.

When I need to renew my love for Andy,
I think back to the times I can't forget,
not to when I would give him coin or candy,
but to the orphanage when once we met.

Where he first looked at me and simply smiled,
and we just played together dad and son,
or when he'd jump into my arms, a child
so glad to greet his dad when day was done.

The boy I loved so dear when love began
helps love to reappear now he's a man.

                         -- by Pete Voelz            7/05






Saturday, March 30, 2013

Christ Lion



Christ is a lion, but He is more than that,
more than mere animal, more man than mouse,
though sometimes kitten, He is one cool cat,
invite Him in, He'll roar around the house.

He is not just a tiger burning bright,
He died like Aslan and came back to live,
He does not want to go bump in the night,
He shows us love He only wants to give.

Life's jungle sees Him waiting like a beast,
to leap with all His power to be shared,
all goodness, truth and beauty--what a feast!
--for those contrite who bring their souls prepared.

O Christ, instead of making us Your meat,
it is Your Lion body that we eat.

                             -- by Pete Voelz       2/11

Friday, March 29, 2013

God Proud



Of God it’s okay to be very proud,
a God Who did the universe create,
to shout His Gospel from the rooftops loud,
proclaim His Name and make it resonate.

We’re proud of Him Who loved us all so much
for us He sent His only Son to die,
a human God that we could see and touch,
Whose body died then rose to life, no lie.

I’m proud of my God Who is personal,
Who lives around, up close, inside of me,
Who’s made me into His own miracle,
to choose with faith to love, He set me free.

So proud of me I hope You will be too,
for I’m so very proud, O God, of You.

                -- by Pete Voelz       3/24/13

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Never Alone There



When I’m alone in church, I’m not alone,
I see my God hung on the crucifix,
the King of Kings upon His loving throne,
midst friendly statues, fragrant smoldering wicks.

In church I find a good community,
familiar faces, voices singing loud,
friendly and kind and welcoming to me,
never alone, never a lonely crowd.

In church there is Christ in the Eucharist,
no more alone when I walk in the door,
the bread of heaven I cannot resist,
for me a taste what heaven has in store.

I seek to know myself, a lonely search,
in, Lord, the most unlonely place, Your church.

                    -- by Pete Voelz       3/28/13

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Dancing God



(Dedicated to the Dancers)

God’s universe is so immense,
far as the eye can see,
and yet He takes up residence
in someone small like me.

God’s smarter than the human race
with all our smarts combined,
and yet He pours His smarts and grace
into my soul and mind.

God’s stronger than the devil’s sin
that so besets my soul,
and yet I know God’s side will win,
He’s always in control.

God’s better than a million saints,
yet ends up on the cross,
due to our sins and our complaints,
-- Oh! What a loss!

God’s bigger than the cross’s shame
with His humility,
and even though I am to blame,
He brings me victory.

God’s lovelier than a million flowers,
created by a glance,
thrilled with all His love and powers,
I wanna dance.

-- by Pete Voelz       3/27/13

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Nobody Listens




Nobody listens to me, O Lord,
but Your ear is pressed to my lips;
no one is there to help when I fall,
but Your hold on me never slips;
No one respects anything that I do,
but You infinitely honor me;
and if everyone lies to me all the day through,
and leaves all the work for me to do,
still I know that Your words in my heart are true
and You'll comfort me tenderly.

If all of the world does nothing for me,
still I bask in Your loving care;
and when everyone leaves me all alone,
You are here with me in prayer;
You're near me in trouble and sorrow and pain,
when nobody hears my cry;
and when it comes time for my life to end,
You'll cuddle me as I die.

                 -- by Pete Voelz        2001



Monday, March 25, 2013

Get Back to God



I call God hoping He'll get back to me,
I know I have to go get back to God,
drowned in my woes, I asked, "Where should I be?"
Instead of going there, I felt the prod.

I got away from God when I was young,
I didn't need Him much, He slipped away,
then I grew up, the pendulum had swung,
I had to now get back to God today.

To get to God again, how shall I go?
A simple prayer since He is always here,
up close and personal He waits I know,
when I just take a step beyond my fear.

Get back to me, O God, Who never left,
I pray of me You'll never be bereft.

                             -- by Pete Voelz      7/09

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Shadow God



God permeates the universe and me,
each morsel and each molecule of me,
He numbers every hair and mark on me,
each change He makes He shapes to look like me.

God knows me even more than I know me,
I find Him everywhere I look in me,
if I don't heed Him at the heart of me,
I'm blind to Him in every part of me.

With every step I take God shadows me,
He gave me life, He'll be the death of me,
He takes from me and then He adds to me,
awake, asleep, He is the breath of me.

You made me so I can't escape from me,
let me not ever, God, escape from Thee.

                              -- by Pete Voelz      8/07

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Savior God



Will God save me but not my enemy?
Will I deserve to live, but he to die?
What makes me good is much a mystery,
as are the things that make him worse than I.

Does he not love his own as pagans do,
as dear to him as mine are dear to me?
Does he not think his faith to be as true
as I think true my Christianity?

I must love him, my enemy, the more,
as much as I love those I know and see;
just as I made an option for the poor,
to live the faith that I've been given free.

O Lord, help me to replace hate with love,
so I'll be what I hope I'm worthy of.

                         -- by Pete Voelz          8/05

Friday, March 22, 2013

Busy Drifting



When I get busy, Lord, You drift away,
preoccupied, I miss Your leaving me,
awash in all my tasks, what can I say?
I don’t have time for Your eternity.

I rush around, can barely breathe a prayer,
my family, job and me take up my space,
my tech toys, friends, and fun I cannot spare,
no room for parish or the human race.

My body makes demands, but not my soul.
it can’t be heard amidst the worldly din,
my unfed spiritual side has lost control,
I even quiet down my silent sin.

If I’m, O Lord, the one who makes the choice,
I need to find a way to hear Your voice.

-- by Pete Voelz       3/21/13

Thursday, March 21, 2013

How Close to God?



When I pray You to closer to me come,
You do, but staying still beyond my grasp,
yet if I beg You give a lot or some,
You always give me more than what I ask.

I know, Lord, You’re too infinite to taste,
too big to see, too hot for me to touch;
to dump too much on me would be a waste,
yet I want to come close to You too much.

In coming close to You, how close is close?
To be far, far from You is to be near,
You overpower with just the tiniest dose,
if I drive You away, You still are here.

Lord, if I’m not allowed to sense Your essence,
at least let me be open to Your presence.

                      -- by Pete Voelz       3/21/13

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

The Outside God



I want to see You, Lord, outside of me,
I want to look at You with my own eyes,
inside I can’t discern Your mystery,
to use my senses, not just my surmise.

I feel You, Lord, attend me from in here,
but I want to see more of You out there,
sometimes inside I sense You are too near,
but outside less, where You are everywhere.

I don’t see You when I make myself blind,
if I don’t look, You’re not reflected back--
from those least ones to whom I should be kind,
You’re really there, it’s faith and love I lack.

You are not hidden, Lord, I will to hide
from You in here and so from You outside.

                        -- by Pete Voelz       3/20/13

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Heaven's Minimum



For heaven, Lord, what’s the bare minimum?
I’m worried ‘bout the steep and rocky path,
through many sinful minefields I have come,
stumbling enough sometimes to raise Your wrath.

We fear to hurt You, Lord, so we repent,
O all-just God, but also merciful,
our destiny’s set by our free consent,
yet You with mercy work Your miracle.

Though sin is bad, You’re eager to forgive,
Your quality of mercy’s number one,
You love us so and wish us all to live,
and You don’t want us missing heaven’s fun.

O Lord of love, Who made me, I embrace
and thank You for Your mercy’s saving grace.

                      -- by Pete Voelz        3/17/13

Monday, March 18, 2013

March Madness Faith



March Madness makes me wonder who will win,
I hope I win, I do not want to lose,
the devil tries to win me when I sin,
 but in the last analysis, I choose.

March Madness shows some things can be won fast,
our problems might be solved by revolution,
but patient God knows how long some things last,
we may be sooner saved by evolution.

March Madness proves how much we win with heart,
and so with all my heart I run the race,
God waits, but He’s fast if I do my part,
my opened heart He’ll fill up with His grace.

If I have faith that all You say is true,
I’ll win fast, Lord, the game I play with You.

                -- by Pete Voelz       3/17/13

Sunday, March 17, 2013

God's Dice



God’s not some charming wizard in a show,
a cynical old Hollywood magician,
He daily makes the universe a go,
for God thought up the human proposition.

God’s not behind the scenes, He is involved,
not secret by some phony curtain hiding,
God’s Providence guides all that has evolved,
above the world, Colossus-like, bestriding.

The spiritual’s so much greater than our vision,
the God Who conquers evil we embrace,
to rise from sullen earth is our decision,
by seeing “all is straw” and “all is grace.”*

You play no dice with this world or the next,**
so, Lord, it’s time I’m sending You a text.

* The former, they say, are the last words 
of St. Thomas Aquinas; the latter, the
title of a biography of Dorothy Day.

** Einstein famously said, “God does not 
play dice with the universe,” meaning
He designed it so it follows His rules.

               -- by Pete Voelz        3/16/13


Saturday, March 16, 2013

Prayer Wonder



A prayer is more than just telepathy,
mental telepathy, if it is real,
just uses mind, but prayer is all of me--
mind, body, heart, soul, will and how I feel.

More than a thought, prayer comes in colored words,
an infinite variety of hues,
the lilts of prayer are prettier than birds,
God gives all prayers their own celestial views.

Prayer taps the signs of God’s infinity,
like God, prayer’s good and true and beautiful,
how He works wonders just to answer me,
my eyes of faith discern prayer’s miracle.

Your vision, Lord’s, beyond our time and space,
but my small prayer can penetrate Your grace.

                             -- by Pete Voelz       3/15/13

Friday, March 15, 2013

God First



O God, You are the first, best love of mine,
my whole self is subordinate to Thee,
and everything that I possess is Thine,
my job, my friends, my world, my family.

O Lord, I take most serious Your commands,
Your will comes first before my own desire,
I glad accept my full fate from Your hands,
to do Your work burns in me like a fire.

Your love comes first because You are the best,
I do not want to serve what is not You,
in serving You, I know I will be blest,
I want to most to Thine own self be true.

To put You first, all else falls into place,
to make this world and me full of Thy grace.

                      -- by Pete Voelz       6/04

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Free Slave



Since God made all, made me, and made me free,
true freedom is to be His willing slave,
to not believe is to be cowardly,
to be a slave of God is to be brave.

 Since God knows all, He knows more than I know,
to know the truth I must to God defer,
God knows what’s true, to who else can we go?*
He tells the truth to me I can be sure.

The truth shall set me free, I do believe,
I do not want to be a slave to lies,
in serving God, it’s life that I receive,
from death to life the slave of God will rise.

A life obeying You, Lord, You will bless,
then I will be forever free, no less.

* “Lord, to whom shall we go,” St. Peter said as some
followers left Christ because His words were too
strong for them, “You have the words of eternal life . . .”

-- by Pete Voelz       3/14/13

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Our Power



God gives us such great power our heads should swim,
to be good persons, and to love, to pray,
to use our power of faith, to worship Him,
to love Him first with power in every way.

"More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams."
The infinite power of prayer to us is given,
obeying God is nobler than our schemes,
and we are free to power our way to heaven.

To use our freedom to do good is best,
and all the world is at a lover's feet,
in loving others, guess Who is our guest?
So why be sour when we can be sweet?

We're given the power to bless the way we live,
and who has not the power to forgive?

                                     -- by Pete Voelz          10/05

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Friendly God



God is my friend, He loves and cares for me,
indeed I am the apple of His eye,
He treats me with the utmost dignity,
though He knows where my sins and sorries lie.

God chose me and then made me who I am,
forever He's put deep in me His hope,
He's trusted me with freedom that's no sham,
though I have often used it like a dope.

I pray each day I might live up to Him,
a home for me He's promised to prepare,
sometimes my chance for it seems pretty slim,
though He supplies me with His grace to spare.

O God, I'll try to serve You to the end,
so I like You can truly be a friend.

                                 -- by Pete Voelz     7/09

Monday, March 11, 2013

Pride and Doubt



To doubt God and His power is just pride,
a narrow-minded view of reality,
to live in God’s world thinking I can hide,
to say the only things are what I see.

Like Thomas, must I touch Christ with my hand,
and to believe, to me must God appear,
that only things exist I understand,
that I’ll believe if I can see God here?

This view restricts me but to what I feel,
I blind myself to God as too aloof,
if He won’t let me see Him, He’s not real,
as I demand of God: More proof! More proof!

So where’s there room for prayer and faith, O Lord,
and for my lack thereof, where’s my reward?

                      -- by Pete Voelz       3/11/13

Sunday, March 10, 2013

God Grows



I grow in God and so God grows in me,
God is in me as He is everywhere,
but He can grow more where He has to be,
He can grow more than He's already there.

God's presence grows the more I bring Him here,
His presence is His friendship and His grace,
God's grace is gift that I can help bring near,
and thus more clearly I can see His face.

Since God is love, His love grows in my heart,
the more I love, the more His love grows too,
He loved me first, but I can do my part
to show His love in everything I do.

Through me, God, may Your grace and presence flow,
so that by me Your love in all may grow.

                              -- by Pete Voelz       10/08

Saturday, March 9, 2013

You'd Think


You'd Think

You'd think with all my smarts I'd know You more,
O God, omniscient, Who gives knowledge free;
You'd think I'd want Your wisdom to explore,
and pray Your grace would more enlighten me.

I should remember St. Augustine too,
and his advice how to successful be,
to pray as if it all relied on You,
and work as if it all relied on me.

First, God, You grace us with our natural skill,
and then reveal to us Your mystery;
You give us freedom and our powerful will,
and then You leave it pretty much up to me.

O God, I pray You for humility,
that I use wisely all You give to me.

                         -- by Pete Voelz

Friday, March 8, 2013

God's Love All-'Round



Abe said he didn’t care God’s on his side,
but that he’s on God’s side he cared a lot,
yet I care less on His side I abide,
if I can keep the love of God I’ve got.

And that I have, for His love does surround
all of my life, myself in every way,
His love makes Him my sky, my sea, my ground,
for yesterday, tomorrow and today.

That God is love--how fortunate we are,
and for our sake, our sins, His Son He sent,
that He is ever near and never far,
so long as I, sincere, my sins repent.

For Your love, Lord, the least that I can do
is offer all of me to loving You.

                  -- by  Pete Voelz       3/8/13

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Does God Love Me?



They say God loves me, but how do I know?
That God made me, that’s true--a kind of proof,
but more than that, how does His kindness show?
He won’t show me Himself, He’s so aloof.

God’s infinite, is His love infinite too?
Then why does He not prove it to me plain?
Why must I work so hard to prove He’s true?
Yet for a love like His I search in vain.

They say God loves me as He’s personal,
His love shines personal through others’ love,
since God is love, love is a miracle,
God, love, and heaven--all that I’m dreaming of.

God gives all this, so what more do I seek?
To doubt, to ask it, takes a lot of cheek.

                      -- by Pete Voelz       3/7/13

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Faith Is Life



What did they have or lack that we should know?
Adam and Eve sinned big for lack of faith,
to build his boat, what Noah had to show:
that faith brings life, and lack of faith is death.

The man of greatest faith old Abraham
obeyed God’s call to sacrifice his son,
and David too, the king from Bethlehem,
had faith he’d kill Goliath and he won.

By faith young Daniel risked his life to pray
to God Who saved him in the lion’s den,
God asked His Son to give His life to pay
off Adam’s debt by faith to save all men.

Faith is a gift You give us, Lord, for free,
the choice of life or death is up to me.

                    -- by Pete Voelz       3/6/13

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

God's Space-Time Warp



God takes His time, but takes my time too fast,
He makes me wait and lose the time I need,
some things I want first He lets happen last,
still most He does with all “deliberate speed.”*

I think I know best, yet I know God knows,
He’s such a know-it-all omniscient Lord,
the Master of the Universe, He chose
me now to wield His “terrible swift sword.”**

God’s future, past are present here today,
His time and space are different from mine,
inside of me He seems so far away,
so far my human is from His divine.

Yet each time, Lord, You prove that You know best,
and by surprise I find out I’m so blest.

* From Francis Thompson’s “Hound of Heaven,” a
phrase used by the U.S. Supreme Court in its 1955
Brown vs. Board of Education decision to describe
how fast school desegregation should occur.

** From “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”

                  -- by Pete Voelz       3/5/13

Monday, March 4, 2013

Mysteries



What need have we to bide a mystery,
acknowledging our puny human mind?
It takes a good dose of humility
that there be answers we will never find--

that God can be a person and be God,
that in His image-likeness we are made,
that mercy's God rules with an iron rod,
that we should fear Him yet not be afraid.

Why in our ignorance are we so proud,
when barely just the surface do we scratch
of all of this creation He's endowed,
and what He knows we midgets never match?

Just to have You present a mystery
is good enough, O God, for meekest me.

                        -- by Pete Voelz          7/05

Sunday, March 3, 2013

I Thank You, Lord



I thank You, Lord, these eyes that let me see,
I thank You for these ears that let me hear,
and while I eat, this taste that pleasures me,
and for this touch and smell of things so near.

Thanks for this heart that beats so faithfully,
these bones that hold me up and set me down,
and all these quarts of blood that flow so free,
these muscles on my frame from toe to crown.

I thank You for these helpful hands and feet,
for all this air my lungs are hungry for,
these cells and genes and DNA discrete,
these atoms, quarks and molecules galore.

And best, this mind, free will, this self and soul,
thank You, God, for each part and, oh, the whole.

                                         -- by Pete Voelz

Saturday, March 2, 2013

The Spirit Inspires



The Holy Spirit inspires us with His aid,
when we are down, He helps to raise us higher,
when we are lost, He makes us less afraid,
when we feel cold to God, He is our fire.

For most His help, He gives in spiritual ways,
He pours His powerful grace into our soul,
His hints to get us through our daily maze,
He sends some friends to help us reach our goal.

We have to listen, of course, to hear His voice,
we have to tune Him in to do our part,
we have to work to make the proper choice,
we have to watch and pray with all our heart.

O Spirit, prompt my faith and humility,
so I accept the aid You send to me.

                                   -- by Pete Voelz

Friday, March 1, 2013

Thy Love Compared



O God, if You love me like I love her,
then put Your loving arms around me now,
and if to You I have half her allure,
then let us join more strong our “I and Thou.”*

Just as I love her here with my whole heart,
half-hearted I don’t want our love to be,
nor ever wish us living here apart,
so too I’d never want to part from Thee.

And if Your love for me’s as great as hers,
then maybe too for You great will be mine,
though since, because divine, so great is Yours,
my love can never be so great as Thine.

O God, I’m glad Your love is greater still
than our loves here, so love You more I will.

* “I and Thou” is a famous book about
God and the person by Martin Buber.

                 -- by Pete Voelz       3/1/13