Two Wills

The world is ruled by God’s great Providence,
we recognize His kind and wise design,
yet, though to God I owe obedience,
my life is ruled by this free will of mine.

The problem--how to integrate the two,
since God created everything there is,
in my deciding what is best to do,
I should defer my headstrong will to His.

But how do I discern what is His will?
My guides are His Commandments, Scripture, prayer,
the lives of saints, His voice so small and still,
my reasonable desires applied with care.

Lord, my proud independence has no place
in our supreme interdependent space.

                                 by Pete Voelz     6/30/14

My Reach

O God, it is not You Who comes to me,
it is instead myself must go to You,
for You are always close as You can be,
while I must always seek You out anew.

And as You wait, Your arms are full of gifts,
while empty mine have mostly sins and pleas;
and in reply, my soul Your loving lifts,
as You fill me with wild mysteries.

Our ways unequal, I am just a man,
so unreliable I often stray,
O God, though small, I bring You all I can,
my promise to believe and to obey.

O God, we both have power to cross the breech,
You give me all Your love if I but reach.

                               -- by Pete Voelz        4/06

God's Spaces

God makes it easy here to find His places,
to see His universe we only look,
we sense Him in the big wide open spaces,
and He reveals Himself inside a book.

Old Moses heard Him from a burning bush,
like Socrates, to truth He pulls our search,
like Jonah, we might sometimes need a push,
the Father sends His Spirit to His Church.

Christ said in Him we see the Father’s face,
His Revelation whole, not just a part,
through sacramental avenues of grace,
He comes by Eucharist into my heart.

But if you don’t see God, might try a prayer,
for in that spiritual space, you’ll find Him there.

“We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade,
the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him.
He walks everywhere incognito.”
-- C.S. Lewis on FB today -- GMC

by Pete Voelz      6/28/14

When All Is Lost

When all is lost, don’t ever think that way,
for there is Someone mighty always near,
attentive to my worries every day,
Who condescends to whisper in my ear.

I need to know why is my soul so great,
perhaps it is the company it keeps
that I should never underestimate,
for with it is the One Who never sleeps.

God’s with my soul, my light and my salvation,
whom should I fear, I need not be afraid,
He keeps my soul, Who watches every nation,
to aid, not ever rain on, my parade.

O Lord, as I take refuge in Your arms,
I find the good You draw from all the harms.

“I leave myself in the arms of the Lord.
He teaches me to draw profit from everything,
from the good and the bad which He finds in me.”
--St Therese, the Little Flower on FB today--GMC

                                by Pete Voelz     6/27/14

Beloved by God

Don’t you know who you are, O soul of mine?
Not that you’re so unusual or odd,
made by divine, you’re made to be divine,*
you are someone, you are beloved by God.

With only one of you, you are unique,
an individual like everyone else,
to God and me you have your own mystique,
He sees a special you, and His heart melts.

You will not know this love until full blast
you feel its forceful beauty when you die,
a love God keeps, you know will last and last,
because you are the apple of His eye.

Have faith, my soul, you know God’s love is true,
know too the one beloved by God is you.

* “By the mystery of this water and wine,
may we come to share in the divinity of Christ,
Who humbled Himself to share in our humanity.”
--Prayer at Mass as the priest puts a drop of water,
representing us, into the wine, representing Christ.

                         by Pete Voelz     6/26/14

The Loan of Love

God lent me love before I was conceived,
when long before then He conceived of me,
I could not love when His love I received
‘til birth He loaned me the ability.

I felt His loan of love so natural,
for on me, some their loan of love would use,
I could not sense how great the miracle--
the Lord of love would loan me His good news.

Love makes the world go ‘round I came to know,
I exercised it in my worldy gym,
but just how fast and furious love could go
I’d only feel when paying it back to Him.

How large Your loan of love I will not see
‘til, Lord, it flows into eternity.

                     by Pete Voelz     6/24/14

God's Love Alone

Since God is love, true love is all God’s own,
because He’s love, His love is all there is,
love’s no one else’s, it is God’s alone,
all love that’s true and good is only His.

Wherever true love is, God is there too,
wherever God goes, His love goes along,
God’s only love, with love shot through and through,
and those who truly love to God belong.

Love is not independent, it is owned,
God owns it, and without Him love’s not real,
like life and like ourselves, His love is loaned,
our worldly love without His, we just feel.

When we love true, it is God’s love we share,
but love felt in our sin, His love’s not there.

                         by Pete Voelz     6/23/14