Ever-Present Sign

Upon my wall it hangs, on it You hang,
Your neck bore it to here, Your albatross,
each glance I cast upon it brings a pang,
Your ever-present Crucifixion cross.

Your suffering casts perspective on my own,
I need it when my faith is on the wane,
knowing You’re there, I can’t leave You alone,
with ever-present Crucifixion pain.

“Beloved Son,” I hear Your Father’s voice,
Your Holy Spirit hovers like a dove,
I see what saves me makes my heart rejoice,
Your ever-present Crucifixion love.

Hangs on my neck Your sign of victory,
You ever-present, crucified for me.

                    by Pete Voelz     9/16/14

True Love in Every line

True love does not just make the world go ‘round,
God makes the world go ‘round, for God is love,
love makes no sense--no scent, no scene, no sound,
for love supplies the soul what souls dream of.

Though it’s unseen, love can inspire desire,
though it is felt, love’s not for how we feel,
love draws us to the higher we aspire,
for real, love does require the God appeal.

Love overflows, it grows the more we share,
love turns an enemy into a brother,
love’s not for us, it dares because we care,
true love must be directed to the other.

So let’s not kid ourselves, love’s understood--
not bad nor brief, love is, like God, for good.

                        by Pete Voelz     9/26/14

God's Habits

God doesn’t change much, He’s a God of habits,
He’s quite creative and likes making things,
like robins, ribeyes, and especially rabbits,
and lots more common folk than queens or kings.

When things went wrong, God showed His habit to save,
He loves to use His mercy to forgive,
He dies to prove His habit to be brave
and save from death the ones He wants to live.

Of all His habits, the greatest is to love,
that’s why He made the stars and human race,
came down to be a man from heaven above,
when we repent, to shower us with grace.

The habit I’m most curious to see
is how He’ll spend eternity with me.

                      by Pete Voelz     9/25/14

In No Denial

9/24/14
Your servants say in Your love I’m awashed,
that You flood me with infinite love and grace,
Your burden’s light, and so I am not squashed,
though I cannot deny You’re in my face.

No way, God, are You only far away,
You want the all of me, not just a part,
and once invited in, You mean to stay,
I can’t deny to let You in my heart.

Awash with love, You too get in my hair,
thus, bold and brave, I cede You some control,
I can’t deny the sin I see is there
when I allow Your entry in my soul.

With courage, Lord, help me not be afraid,
someday I won’t deny I’m glad You stayed.

                      by Pete Voelz     9/24/14

Two Fowls

(Dedicated to a friend who is devoted to the Holy Spirit.)

St. Peter warns Satan’s like some foul lion,
who prowls the world for souls he might devour,
but he is not the only fowl who’s tryin’
to capture souls by using spiritual power.

The other fowl is just a little bird,
with coat of white and speed of light, a dove,
the Spirit of the Father and the Word,
Who seeks our restless souls with cooing love.

The first makes bad things look good in disguise,
the next prompts us with whispering breeze and grace,
Christ calls the lying lion the “Father of lies,”
their deadly race takes place in spiritual space.

This serious fight we duel with prayer and sword,
and with devotion to our Spirit Lord.

by Pete Voelz     9/20/14

The Car Ballet

 The Car Ballet  --  9/20/14
(My favorite poem of all) --

My son and I were five years old
when we met at a car ballet;
the street we rolled was a carpet gold
for the auto play-by-play.

I had never seen this boy before
when our rendezvous began;
he was crouched on the floor as I stepped in the door,
so I knelt down beside a sedan.

It followed his car as if by design,
and his squealed without surprise,
but he checked the whine when his glance met mine
with a curious look in his eyes.

His car was a little red tin Ford,
mine a green Chevrolet;
his screeched and roared at a high-pitched chord
when my growl warned his car away.

His crashed on the ground and flew through the air
while mine meandered by;
he streaked with flair down a thoroughfare,
as I drove into the sky.

I was forty-six going on five
as my car swooped over a bridge,
but I was young and alive and I sure could drive
in that dim old orphanage.

We had left America far away,
my daughter, my wife and I,
to fly all day to a car ballet
across the bright Asian sky.

As we walked down the Bangkok boulevard
I suddenly just had to run,
and my heart beat hard as I raced through the yard
to see my adopted son.

He climbed atop an old divan
with his tin Ford tightly clutched,
and our two cars ran along man-to-man
'til our bumpers barely touched.

Then sped away to almost hide,
but before I could count to ten,
all mischiefied he pulled up aside,
and we bumped again and again.

His speedy car I could not outchase,
as the sun could not outshine
the grin on his face at the end of the race
when his eyes looked up into mine.

Oh, East is East and West is West
and never the twain shall meet,
except when you're five in overdrive,
two boys on a carpet street.

Yes, my son and I were five years old
when we met at a car ballet,
and that hour of gold has never grown cold
through our years of play-by-play.

                -- by Pete Voelz        1998

Prayer Enders

The sister said my Guardian Angel dear
woud finish any prayer I left undone,
a pious thought, though it was never clear
God blessed such prayers taught by a grade school nun.

I wondered who else prayed prayers left unended,
a Cloud of Witnesses, so says St. Paul,
made up of saints and angels I’ve befriended,
joins me in prayers and always is on call.

I sometimes count on my dear Mother Mary
to finish at days end my Rosary,
and take, no longer small and ordinary,
my ended prayers to Christ her Son for me.

Yet, Lord, let me not take advantage of
their pious little exercise of love.

                       by Pete Voelz     9/19/14

Inspired Out?

O God, when will You be inspired out?
Is there a limit to Your inspiration?
Since You are infinite without a doubt,
It’s only I who has the limitation.

Got lots more inspirations for a poem?
You just gave me a topic for a speech,
remind me how to help around the home,
or stretch for stars that I can barely reach.

How often You inspire me to pray,
how many times I sense You plant the seed,
if no words come, You tell me what to say,
You’re always there for anything I need.

How endlessly You try to me inspire,
You’re all the inspiration I desire.

                 by Pete Voelz     9/18/14

God's Humility

There’s nothing like, Lord, Your humility,
compelled by love, to go from best to least,
to empty Godliness to be like me,
then let Yourself be hurt worse than a beast.

From there so low You raised us up on high,
the ones whose sins had caused You all Your pain,
from love, forgiving us if we but try,
then letting us with You forever reign.

What humbleness do You want us to show?
To recognize Your true reality,
that we obey You and resist the foe,
that we believe and pray on humble knee?

Lord, let me prove my love by what I do,
not worship me, but humbly worship You.

                      by Pete Voelz     9/17/14

God's Yes and No

God wants to hear me say my "yes" and "no,"
He has His limits with the "maybe" word,
He wants me to commit and to forgo,
He wants to hear with His Word I've concurred.

God asks I turn to Him and take a stand,
my hem and haw He's awfully tired of,
to turn away from sin by His command,
and to accept His gift of infinite love.

God wants me to believe and love and serve,
to put procrastination far behind,
to look Him in the eye if I've the nerve,
not be too busy or pretend I'm blind.

O Lord, I do not pray for any less
than You give me the grace to tell You "Yes."

                          -- by Pete Voelz          4/10

Seven Sorrow Swords

(The Feast of the Seven Sorrows of Mary)

Old Simeon warned her seven swords of sorrow
would pierce her heart, presenting her new Son;
far Egypt she and Joseph had to borrow,
as Herod thought by killing kids he’d won.

When He was twelve, three days she suffered loss,
‘til teaching temple teachers He was found;
at thirty-three, while bearing His cruel cross,
she met Him bloody, falling to the ground.

She hoped she’d seen the last of these sad harms,
when by the cross she still stood as He died,
then there in pity, held Him in her arms,
and viewing them, we have for centuries cried.

Last, at the tomb, a seventh sorrow sword
was buried in her heart for her dead Lord.

                             by Pete Voelz     9/15/14

Dancing God

God sometimes dances to get my attention,
He dances for me in important ways,
from cross to Resurrection to Ascension,
His blaze of glory leaves me full of praise.

God danced to earth from heaven for my salvation,
my stream of thoughts He struggles to invade,
like His, my body and soul are Incarnation,
to let your soul dance too, be not afraid.

God dances with desire to be my guest,
to dance with me in Scripture and in prayer,
to dance into my mouth in Eucharist,
to dance with me in people everywhere.

O God, I know I should take every chance
to practice here for our forever dance.

                    by Pete Voelz     9/12/14

See to Believe?

(Old adage: “If you can’t trust your banker,
who can you trust?”
New adage: “Maybe your Maker?”)

Why do I trust a God I cannot see?
Since I was born, we’ve talked of God as real,
I trust the deep faith of my ancestry,
by instinct His strong presence I can feel.

For all the stars, God’s Providence makes most sense,
I know so many things I cannot see,
His mighty works are obvious evidence,
so grand a God, I grant some mystery.

His Church, the fortress of His faith, is there,
He owns the greatest minds of history,
He speaks to me in GMC and prayer,*
His saints, heroic and loving, I can see.

O God unseen, I see You spiritually,
my eyes of faith are good enough for me.

* A GMC is a God-Made Coincidence.
Pope Saint JP2 said there are no coincidences,
only God’s Providence. So God sends us small
miracles, or coincidences, with a blessing and
a message--if we see them with our eyes of faith.

                              by Pete Voelz     9/10/14

The Google God -- 9/9/14

 “I’m not just God, I am the Google God,
you don’t just bide on earth, you’re in a search,
you need search engines as a Google prod,
I’ve given you the Spirit and My Church.

“‘Twas Socrates who said the goal of life
is searching for the truth, and I am Truth,
your lack of interest cuts Me like a knife,
be not afraid to turn into a sleuth.

“Don’t get too wrapped up in technology,
I made you spiritual with a human side,*
your better part’s your spirituality,
what will you take with you once you have died?”

I hear You, Lord, and I will search for Thee,
don’t give up, Google God, Your search for me.

* The great paleontologist priest Tielhard de Chardin
said, “We are not human beings with a spiritual side,
we are spiritual beings with a human side.”

                                   by Pete Voelz     9/6/14

Mary's Day of Birth

My mother died the day of Mary’s birth,
she found new birth by being heavenbound,
her soul to God, her body back to earth,
as Mary’s Gabriel said, His grace she found.

This is my niece’s last novena day,
from cancer death, new life so wonderful,
to Sister Lucia now so many pray
that Fatima’s Mary wins God’s miracle.

Mary was born to bring Christ’s birth and death,
He had to die, we have to die sometime,
a miracle for our soul is best--by faith
we know it births forever life sublime.

No matter which our Lady and God give,
God’s life--here or in heaven--we want to live.

                   by Pete Voelz     9/8/14--on the
Feast of the Birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Proof of Love

O God, I try to prove my love with prayer,
Your love response to my free prayer is free,
it's easy too, I pray You anywhere,
it helps me practice my humility.

I show my love composing You a poem,
some hours of time, a bit of writing skill,
a thing that I can do in bed at home,
a sacrifice less bloody than a kill.

There's more to prove my love that I must do,
my love is proved if I obey Your laws,
when I love others I am loving You,
my talents must be active in Your cause.

If I fall short, O Lord, these other ways,
let me indulge at least a gift of praise.

                    by Pete Voelz     9/3/14

Anchor Prayer

For storms inside and out, there is an anchor,
for raging seas, or maybe just a swell,
and best to cool a heart that’s full of anger,
the call of greed or lust we need to quell.

To calm the ship of faith, prayer is an anchor,
the gluttony of qualms of doubting Thomases,
for sloth, depressed despair, and lazy languor,
we call on peaceful prayer with all its promises.

Prayer is a port for those who care to anchor,
weary of pride, hope for humility,
to put an end to envy, fighting, rancor,
prayer brings its peace to surging sinful sea.

Your port from seven seas of deadly sin,*
my ship of prayer, O Lord, drops anchor in.

* The Seven Deadly Sins are pride, greed,
lust, gluttony, sloth, envy and anger.

                              by Pete Voelz     9/5/14

Know by Faith

By faith we know Christ won’t disown His Church,
He and the Holy Spirit have never erred,
we who’ve found Christ no longer need to search,
by faith we know He’s Eucharist and Word.

We turn to God--no other place to go,
when desperate, we know by faith to pray,
that prayer will help us by His word we know,
‘twixt God and us, we tear the veil away.

Faith knows the Trinity’s a mystery,
Faith says at Mass that Christ is sacrificed,
that Mary is our Mother too we see,
that Jesus is the Son of God, the Christ.

So many things by honest faith are known,
if we but make that faith sincere our own.

                     by Pete Voelz     9/4/14

House on Rock

Not on the sands of sin I build my house,
instead I want to build it up--on rock,
to build it like a man and not a mouse,
and with, to keep sin out, a sturdy lock.

Your grace and truth are rock, for them I search,
with grace I listen to what tells me true,
and here on earth, Your body is the Church,
You, Lord, are truth, the Church of truth is You.

A house on rock I also build my soul,
not like the rotten soul of Dorian Gray,*
God gives me grace to keep me pure and whole,
repentence wipes the sands of sin away.

With these let’s build, Lord, our community too
on rock--my house, our Church, my soul and You.

* In Oscar Wilde's "The Portrait of Dorian Gray" his
portrait looks more rotten as the soul is more sinful.

                                     by Pete Voelz     9/2/14

Faithful Messenger

I am Your faithful messenger, O Lord,
my model is St. Peter, man of faith,
I look to You and ask for no reward,
except Your love, already birth to death.

“You are the Christ, Son of the Living God,”
I say as he said, looking at Your face,
my zeal for You is known with no facade,
keep me from sin, and help me win Your grace.

I wait for me Your Spirit to inspire,
I take up mine, like Jeremiah’s cross,
Your message burns inside me like a fire,
it must come out and never count the loss.

Your message now I’ll write and not defer,
let me, Lord, be Your faithful messenger.

                   by Pete Voelz     9/1/14