Top Catholic Songs

Singer-Songwriter Nancy Krebs has created an iMix of songs from her Christmas CD Come to the Stable--filled with original songs that invite us to contemplate the wondrous Gift of the Christ Child. Here are some of her comments:

Waiting for the Christ Child

I heard a wonderful sermon given some years back about finding a personal desert like John the Baptist to await the coming of the Christ Child. It gave me the inspiration to write this song.

Imagine

The story of the Immaculate Conception. How Joachim and Anne must have felt watching their little girl. Did they know how special she was?

Love Makes Room

This song was inspired by a Baptist pastor in Columbia Maryland, Rev. Steve McNeely. His theme revolved around the 'busy-ness' of the Christmas season, and the time leading up to it. How busy we are makes us blind to those around us who might need our attention. We feel so rushed and over-committed, that we actually fear there's not enough of us to go around. Luckily, we have the beautiful examples of Mary and Joseph: two people who must have felt fear that they might not be able to complete the monumental tasks God had placed before them. But they let Love enter the picture; and in doing so were able to 'make room' for whatever the Father had in store for them--and so can we.

Sound of a Promise

I've always been struck by the hush that comes upon the world on Christmas Eve night--when darkness falls. It's not just the anticipation of the gifts under the tree--there's a cosmic 'anticipation', a radiancy in the air. Did anyone feel this on the first Christmas Eve; when the promise of the Father was about to be fulfilled? What sounds did they hear that night? That's what inspired this song.

Come to the Stable

When I was quite young, I used to wonder how children in other countries/cultures might view the Baby Jesus. I knew how I saw him--pink and white complexion with blond hair and blue eyes. But how did children in Russia, or Japan, Africa, South America, China see Him? That's what inspired this song, that I wrote in 1972!

Silent Night

Well, who doesn't know this song? But I love how it came about. It was written on Christmas Eve in 1818 by Fr. Joseph Mohr and Franz Gruber because the organ at their church, St. Nicholas in Obendorf, Austria broke down. They needed to come up with something fast–so they wrote Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht; and for Christmas Eve Mass, it was accompanied by Herr Gruber’s lowly guitar. It has since become one of the most sung carols in the world.

He Came to Us

God has Infinite Power, Infinite Knowledge. He could have chosen any way He wanted to redeem humankind, to bring us back to himself after the fall of Adam and Eve. He could have done it any way, but in His infinite wisdom and goodness, He chose to become one…like us….

Mary, Did You Know?

Several years ago, while I was driving, I heard a song that was so moving, I had to pull off the road--I was reduced to tears. I thought the words were so touching. It asks question after question of the greatest of the Lord’s apostles, Mary the mother of Jesus. Written by Mark Lowry and Buddy Greene, it too, has become a beloved song of the season.

Perfect Plan

Jesus was not destined for a cushy life, filled with money, power and prestige. He was destined for the Cross. There are hints of this journey even at His birth. I read this wonderful book: The Passion of the Infant Christ, by Carol Houselander. In it, she drew a lot parallels between the story of Bethlehem and the story of Calvary.

O Holy Night

Every family has its favorite Christmas carol, and in my family (being very dramatic on a DNA level) has always loved this one!

Love Makes Room

Nancy Krebs ©12/15/98

The angel told her "Fear not"
Yet she was still afraid.
How could she be the Mother of God
Such an awesome role to be played.
How could she ever tell Joseph?
Would he just toss her aside?
What about this baby to be born?
When a small voice in her cried:

‘Love makes room.” She looked deep in her heart
And she found a place
All she had to do was think of the face
Of her child to be, that’s all she had to see...
She said: “for Him, I’ll make room. Because love makes room”

The angel told him "Fear not"
Take Mary home as your wife.
She will be the Mother of a Son
Who will bring all people new life."
But what should he do about Mary?
Should he just put her aside?
What about this baby to be born?
When a small voice in him cried:

“Love makes room.” He looked deep in his heart
And he found a place.
All he had to do was think of her face
With its silent plea, for the child to be
And he said: “For them I’ll make room, because love makes room”

Angels whisper “Fear not”
Trust in the Savior’s will.
That Baby born in Bethlehem
Is living in us still.
But who has time for compassion?
It’s too hard to hear the cries.
If we follow the footsteps of Mary and Joseph
That small voice in us sighs:

“Love makes room”
We’ll look deep in our hearts
And we’ll find a place.
All we have to do is just see His face
In one another, every sister and brother...
And we’ll say: “For them I’ll make room.
Because love makes room.”

Mary made room in her being,
Joseph made room in his heart,
We, too, can make room, because love makes room.

Dedicated to Rev. Steve McNeely, pastor, Columbia Baptist Fellowship