Three Ways My Friend

God’s not just God, He is my personal friend,
He made my time unto eternity,
for everything, on Him I do depend,
He clearly is superior to me.

God made Himself my equal since we share
our humanness, He came from up above
to be like us, and someday take us there,
and raise us all up equal in His love.

Christ came to serve, to be our servant true,
to humbly make Himself inferior,
show mercy to us for the sins we do,
to be less than us so we could be more.

O friendly God, I’m grateful for Your grace,
that wipes out differences with little trace.

                        by Pete Voelz       4/30/15

A Tenth of God

I think I know a tenth or so of God,
yet how much is that of infinity?
Just even one percent--that would be odd,
what’s one per cent of total mystery?

That’s why in Scripture’s lines Himself He shows,
He wants a part--a tenth?--to be revealed,
He can’t be too mysterious, He knows,
what good’s a God Who is too much concealed?

Our God-man Christ gave us a hundred per cent,
He left His infinitely happy home above,
His life, His death, all that He had He spent,
what more is there to know than such great love?

To me, O God, You need not prove or show
more than Your total love I already know.

                          by Pete Voelz        4/28/15
                          pmvoelz.blogspot.sg

His Faith in Me

Lately I find God puts His faith in me,
as I ask Him a favor when I pray,
already He’s sent me a GMC,*
at night I pray for what He’s done today.

Yet this has been His policy all along,
God showed His faith before I drew a breath,
and He forgives before I do a wrong,
He has prepared my heaven before my death.

Why does God put His faith in me before
He sees that I don’t live up to His grace?
For He already foretells what’s in store,
yet He mysteriously keeps up the chase.

I do not want to see Your faith disgraced,
let not Your faith in me, Lord, be displaced.

*GMC--God-Made Coincidence

                     by Pete Voelz        4/28/15
                    pmvoelz.blogspot.sg

Seizing the Day

O fleeting youth, enjoying every day,
beware your carpe diem isn't wrong;
the pleasure time you seize that cannot stay
is not just for your women, wine and song.

While shines the sun, the time's for making hay,
the transitory fun is only long
when love and friends are true in your bouquet
and ties to those in memory's store are strong.

There is, of course, a place for hours of play,
but don't just ape the follies of the throng;
sometimes alone we need prepare the way
for future joy than just now to belong.

Yes, stop to smell the roses on display,
but save up God's good blessings while you pray.

                                 by Pete Voelz      10/04

God to Me

First there was God, then His all-good Creation,
He saw our sin and promised a Savior-Son,
God wrote a book, with His Self-Revelation,
Christ came and died, with our salvation won.

Christ rose and left, but said He would abide,
He built His Church upon a rock so true,
He sent His Holy Spirit as a guide,
and promised He would keep it ever new.

Then God made me to help His plan succeed,
gave me His Spirit to guide me on our way,
His sheep I too am called upon to feed,
Christ gives Himself as food for me each day.

So much of this is garbed in mystery,
yet clear’s the line, O God, from You to me.

                          by Pete Voelz         4/26/15
                         pmvoelz.blogspot.sg

Leaving Christ

If I leave Christ, I have to go somewhere,
I know there is no better place to go;
where can I go to end up in a prayer?
For leaving Him, what would I have to show?

Christ is my life, my food, my meat and drink,
He is the flesh and blood on which I feed;
in my food chain He is the strongest link,
He is the Eucharist I know I need.

What is there in this world compared to Him?
Who else is there who's done so much for me?
For who else would I give my life and limb?
Who else can say I am His cup of tea?

For Him all my life long I've sacrificed,
what would I be if I stayed not with Christ?

                               -- by Pete Voelz      5/04

Flower Power

A flower is the opposite of power,
it has no strength except its passing beauty,
it cannot cause a lady bug to cower,
a daffodil but droops to do its duty.

A flower just reflects the will of heaven,
without our eyes it still obeys its nature,
without our sins, no need to be forgiven,
a rose is still a rose, no nomenclature.

Yet flowers have great power to attract,
they simply show themselves with no facade,
so beautiful, they never are attacked,
a lily needs no other knight but God.

But lilac, with your beauty from above,
you lack my beauty to forever love.

           by Pete Voelz         4/24/15
           pmvoelz.blogspot.sg

Shroud of Love

I looked and saw dead Jesus on a shroud,
not Father there, nor Holy Spirit dove,
placed peaceful, plain, not humble yet not proud,
disfigured, scourged, and crucified for love.

The bloody thorn-like wounds above His face,
not on His palms, the nail holes through each wrist,
compelling pity, yet projecting grace,
my loving Jesus of the Eucharist.

The scientists have examined every bit,
its pollen traced to ancient Palestine,
no paint or pigment does the image fit,
this photographic negative divine.

Christ, I confess this Turin relic true,
a nuclear-blasted picture made of You.

                     by Pete Voelz        4/23/15

Faith and Faithfulness

What good is faith without the faithfulness?
Can I have faith and be disloyal too,
claim to believe, and then choose to digress?
For what is faith, if not faith through and through?

Christ is our model, where we see true faith,
He said, “Not My will, but Thy will be done.”
So faithful was He--all the way to death,
He proved Himself a loyal, faithful Son.

True faith is when we practice what we preach,
real faithfulness expressed in loyalty,
what Christ taught then, so now His Church does teach,
not my will, Lord, but my humility.

My faithfulness is not just what I choose,
but follow You, if You were in my shoes.

                         by Pete Voelz         4/22/15
                      pmvoelz.blogspot.sg

The Waves of God

Not at some point, God comes to us in waves,
He made the big bang world with waved design,
and heaven for all the waves of those He saves,
with order, beauty, glory and all mine.

God brought His waves of love and life to me,
my body, soul, self-consciousness and worth,
imagination, reason, dignity,
and waves of friends relating to on earth.

God gives me waves of choices, time and space,
and powers of health and talent to enlist,
freedom to love and use God's waves of grace,
and waves of God Himself in Eucharist.

God, flood me with Your waves of mercy too,
and ever I'll send loving waves to You.

                                     by Pete Voelz

Saint Friends

How to befriend someone you cannot see,
and how to talk to one you cannot hear?
By faithful prayer, friends we will come to be,
this “Cloud of Witnesses” that’s ever near.

For friends like these whose lives are spiritual
can see and hear us every day and hour,
in heaven such miracles are natural,
nothing’s impossible with Godly power.

Their world--eternal, spiritual--is more real,
the more we enter it with faithful prayer,
its goodness, truth and beauty they reveal,
the more we’ll recognize each other there.

Our earthly friends we’ll have to leave behind,
but not our old saint-friends in heaven we find.

                 by Pete Voelz        4/20/15

The Tapestry of Grace

The strength of grace is like a tapestry,
each strand is long, unbroken, and unfrayed,
up close or far, the weave’s pure quality,
our broken virtues woven in each braid.

Grace does not make us good, God made us good,
but in a fallen world, grace makes us best,
we artists of ourselves, it’s understood,
weave best we can, and God does all the rest.

The strands of grace God gives are very strong,
God don’t make junk, His grace is more than gold,
our tapestry of grace will last us long,
His favor, friendship, power is of old.

At death we’ll see our tapestry as whole,
God’s woven grace in my most grateful soul.

by Pete Voelz         4/17/15
pmvoelz.blogspot.sg

God's Dream

God’s dream--bring all to heaven when we die,
His foe tries hard to thwart what He's begun,
“Go forth,” says God, “increase and multiply,”
in marriage He makes “two become as one.”

A man, a woman, husband and his wife,
from their love comes a child, our greatest joy,
with God they co-create a human life,
the natural parents raise their girl or boy.

God plans we all will be His family,
He wants a flood of children for His dream,
our families formed like His own Trinity,
so He opposes any preventive scheme.

I steer my soul for Paradise with a prayer,
that in God’s dream and family I will share.

                     by Pete Voelz         4/18/15
               pmvoelz.blogspot.sg

Holocaust and War at 70

Today I watched kids play a game of Yahtzee,
tonight some footage on the Holocaust,
would I have been a faithful little Nazi?
O God, how could a people be so lost?

O where was I, O Lord, O where were You?
Unknowing, I found comfort in my home,
my first five years I lived through World War II,
and now I find discomfort in my poem.

It’s easy to blame Hitler for their woes,
I’d like to think that heaven heard their cry,
each fallen victim, soldier someone chose,
but why did fifty million have to die?

The questions hover still rhetorical,
the hard-fact answers live historical.

                by Pete Voelz       4/17/15
        pmvoelz.blogspot.sg

Love's Fortitude

Love gives me strength I did not know I had,
the courage to be patient, gentle, kind,
to not get angry and not to stay mad,
instead God’s grace and peace to keep in mind.

Love does not send some evil end to others,
not violence, revenge, nor striking fear,
not seeing them as enemies, but brothers,
but mercy show and wipe away the tears.

Love’s fortitude does not reside in pride,
not the almighty I, nor first is me,
to see God deified, not be defied,
and live the courage of humility.

Almighty Lord of love, Your strength is true,
so for love’s fortitude, I turn to You.

Melody of Prayer

Each day I offer all, a prayer lifelong,
I turn my prayer into a melody,
my life’s not just a prayer, it is a song,
to be a melody for God and me.

To God Who gives me all, what shall I bring?
At least a life to offer Him in prayer,
like bards of old, my words I want to sing,
and so make bold the prayer just waiting there.

To serve the song, the words must somewhere start,
the lines aimed to delight and to console,
composed of prayers beginning in my heart,
born in the grateful wishes of my soul.

Though life shall end, my song shall not be done,
a melody, O Lord, that’s just begun.

                     by Pete Voelz          4/15/15

God Knows All

God knows it all, how could I dare rebel?
The only reason is my stupid pride.
Not I, but He created every cell,
of 99 percent I'm mystified.

God loves me so, why must I so resist?
I'm wed to sin and then perhaps to shame,
I know without Him I would not exist,
before His power, my pride is pretty lame.

I can succeed if I cooperate,
I owe God every little thing I own,
before His love, why do I hesitate?
It's like I think I do it all alone.

O God, You know, You make, You love it all,
help me to answer true Your caring call.

                        -- by Pete Voelz         6/05

Day of Mercy

What day is this when mercy is divine?*
Christ proved His love when He from heaven came,
He lived, He died, He rose--all by design,
He said His mercy is “love’s second name.”

God’s mercy is His greatest quality,
the center of the Gospel and our faith,
His flood of mercy sinks sins in the sea,
when we repent, He grants abounding grace.

Christ spoke all this to Sister Saint Faustina,**
His mercy brought through prayer and sacrament,
by His Chaplet of Mercy or novena,
plus with a plenary indulgence sent.

For great and boundless sins we have unpaid,
Christ gives more mercy, so “Be not afraid!”

* Feast of Divine Mercy -- first Sunday after Easter.
** Jesus appeared to her many times a century ago in
Poland and told her of His mercy and these promises.

                           by Pete Voelz       4/11/15

Alpha God

It all begins with God, and there shall end,
God is the start and stop of everything,
for nothing makes itself, we comprehend,
in spring He brings all things their opening.

Besides Creation large, God makes the small,
we see the rose, we hear the thunder roll,
conceited man creates no thing at all,
but even bigger fish God feeds my soul.

Like crops and kids, God lets us co-create
our dreams and faith, our weak beliefs and strong,
yet with our free will, He lets us dictate
our deeds that show the end where we belong.

In Baptism’s grace my innocent soul You start,
but, Lord, I choose the love inside my heart.

                       by Pete Voelz        4/10/15

Preparation War

We spend our life preparing for our death,
or rather for our vast eternal life,
we fight for life from first to final breath,
yet fear our death won’t stop our lifelong strife.

And when we wage this war, we want to win,
no weapons used, we’re outwardly at peace,
it is a spiritual struggle with our sin,
to prep for perfect souls when battles cease.

In this it doesn’t matter how we feel,
pretending doesn’t help us win the race,
our spiritual side, our soul, is made more real,
our bodies die, our souls live infinite grace.

Your life eternal, Lord, I do now choose,
this war to ever win and never lose.

                    by Pete Voelz        4/9/15

Loving Saints

What, Lord, do You find in them that You love?
They have great faith and great humility,
the Little Flower throws roses from above,
St. Theresa’s Little Way fits little me.

St. Padre Pio had the Stigmata true,
his faith gave him the courage to stand the pain,
he bi-located, read their souls, and flew,
he’d pray and then Your miracles would rain.  

Blest Pierre Toussaint lived two centuries ago,
this ex-slave helped the New York poor with care,
from daily Mass with wife and kids in tow,
he birthed the city’s welfare system there.

Courage, strong faith, humility and prayer,
but for our little grace we would be there.

                     by Pete Voelz       4/8/15

To Hope

Someday somehow something will kill us all,
and yet we cling to life and fear to go,
So wherein lies our hope to climb this wall
or smash it and this hopeless life we know?

There is no earthly answer to this quest,
no person who can show us how to cope,
no worldly wisdom that can pass this test,
no present pleasure that can give us hope.

Yet just as God gave life to us before
we got here from someplace and time unknown,
so why can't we put faith for what's in store
in One Who tells us we are not alone?

O God of hope in this our hopeless state,
I'll put my faith in You and take my fate.

                         -- by Pete Voelz         5/05

A Metaphor for God

What is the metaphor for God in me?
Our brother Christ says He’s Our Father true,
yet just like God my dad could never be,  
Creator and Sustainer through and through.

Christ Incarnation came down from above,
a metaphor for brother, closest friend,
willing to die for me, so full of love,
to daily be my Eucharist to the end.

How is the Holy Spirit in my soul?
Not Father, Brother, but a guide is He,
the Paraclete to comfort, guard’s His role,
as friend to inspire in spiritual mystery.

This Trinity of Lovers evermore,
I cannot really find a metaphor.

               by Pete Voelz       3/22/15

Soul Alone

I came to life alone and leave alone,
God’s own hand or some stork-like angel brought me,
in mother’s womb, my life was not my own,
though owned by God, how strange it was He sought me.

God seeks me though He never lost me, but
He gave His mighty gift of freedom to me,
by sin this power allowed my will to shut
Him out, and forced His mercy to pursue me.

What shall I say when God gives me His hand,  
my soul alone before my Trinity,
no one from life to join me where I stand
to face God fully as He looks at me?

You bring, O Lord, each person there before You,
may my lone soul then love You and adore You.

                   by Pete Voelz         4/3/15

Loving Pain

One shows one’s love by touch and smile and kiss,
these ways of love leave little to explain,  
yet there’s no doubt love’s really there with this:
when lovers prove true love with loving pain.

No greater love is there than this, He said,
to lay one’s own dear life down for a friend,
He gave up heaven, and took our pain instead,
laid down His life and suffered to the end.

Two fall in love and joyful marry, yet
they vow to take the pain as man and wife,
their love and pain grow with those they beget,
defending spouse and children with their life.

Like Yours, Lord, pain and love come in a mix,
that only true and painful love can fix.

                        by Pete Voelz        4/4/15

Seven Last Words 2

"I thirst," Christ pleads as He hangs on the cross,
for those souls who by chance might still be lost;
"This day, Good Thief, your death will be no loss,
the path to Paradise you now have crossed."

"My son, your Mother, Mother, lo, your son,"
He rules in giving her to all mankind;
"My Father's full forgiveness you have won,
if you repent to what you may be blind."

"My God, My God, have You forsaken Me?"
In desperation He to heaven cries;
and ready then to set His spirit free,
"It is all done," He breathes before He dies.

"To Your hands, Father, I commend my soul"--
His last words as His death fulfills His goal.

                         -- by Pete Voelz  

Cross Borne

Cross Borne 2 -- posted 4/2

Christ bore His cross so we could carry Him,
the wood we venerate, so often kissed,
for us on it He offered life and limb,
we offer now and bear His Eucharist.

The soldier pierced His side with his long knife,
observed by only John and three called Mary,*
He gave His life for our eternal life,
His body now from hand to mouth we carry.

Cross borne, He’s in a thousand works of art,
seen by the sinners He was crucified for,
so we can bear Him buried in our heart,
recalled by all He suffered, bled and died for.

O Christ upon the cross, help me to bear
Your cross and mine in me forever there.

* Under the cross were Mary His Mother,
Mary Magdalene, and Mary of Clopas.

                        by Pete Voelz    

Living Relics

I wish we had St. Peter’s shadow here,
where it would fall, the sick would all be cured,
but relics must be things we can revere,
for often they do miracles we’re assured.

So Christ left us His image on the Shroud,
and science can’t explain how it is there,
His picture on it shouts to us so loud,
it casts its mighty shadow everywhere.

The Shroud’s a photographic negative,
Christ’s shadow through the ages does persist,
but He’s made more than just His shadow live,
His whole self in His Holy Eucharist.

Your relics, Lord, aren’t shadows from the past,
but living Church and Sacraments that last.

                       by Pete Voelz            4/1/15