This crosspost from Nick Alexander's blog was originally posted at TCS on April 22, 2014.

Survey conducted by Nick Alexander

The grave now is empty! The stone is rolled away! Hallelujah!

Happy Resurrection Day!

Easter is the most joyous time of the year. It is the time that we celebrate the impossible–that death no longer has any power over us. Our Lord Jesus looked as if He was slain; but no! Jesus conquered death. And by conquering death, He has opened the way of salvation to all who believe.

Easter is not a one day celebration. (That is a misnomer). Easter is a celebration that lasts forty days on the Christian calendar. It is celebrated with Alleluia’s–those same Alleluias that were hidden for the forty days of Lent prior, they are now used to overflowing. It is the most celebratory of seasons, and we must not lose sight of the joy in our walks.

I had asked my readership as to what their favorite Easter hymns were, and you all responded in kind. These are the results.

1. Christ, The Lord Is Risen Today, Alleluia! (54.00%)
2. Jesus Christ Is Risen Today (42.00%)
3. Crown Him With Many Crowns (40.00%)
4. I Know That My Redeemer Lives (36.00%)
5. Blessed Assurance, Jesus Is Mine! (32.00%)
6. Hallelujah Chorus (30.00%)
7. All Hail The Power Of Jesus’ Name, Let Angels Prostrate Fall (28.00%)
8. All Creatures Of Our God And King (26.00%)
9. Love Divine, All Loves Excelling (24.00%)
10. Alleluia! Alleluia! Let the Holy Anthem Rise (22.00%) ... 

Sing Psalms to the Lord - Thank You!

Gospel - John 20:1-9 He must rise from the dead.

What started off as just an idea, has, with God’s grace, become a reality, and our collection of Caribbean psalms, including our reworking of a few psalms from the Pilgrim People choirs of Singapore, is complete.

To our clergy, our parishioners, and everyone who has been with us along the way, we thank you for your support and encouragement. We thank you for listening and praying along with us. A special thank you to our families, without whom we would not have been able to dedicate our time and talent to this undertaking.

We pray that you will continue to sing along with these psalms, to the glory of God, our Heavenly Father.

The Choir of Our Lady of the Rosary, Verdun, St. John, Barbados.

You may visit our YouTube channel here: www.youtube.com/@singpsalmstothelord/videos

Our podcast "Sing Psalms to the Lord" can be found at all the quality podcast providers.

The podcast website can be found here: sing-psalms-to-the-lord.castos.com

Responsorial Psalm 39(40):7-11 for the Annunciation of the Lord

Here I am, Lord! I come to do Your will.

You do not ask for sacrifice and offerings,
but an open ear.
You do not ask for holocaust and victim.
Instead, here am I.

Here I am, Lord! I come to do Your will.

In the scroll of the book it stands written
that I should do Your will.
My God, I delight in Your law...

I recorded and posted the first half of Psalm 145 a while ago. Here is part two
9 The LORD is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made.
10 All thy works shall give thanks to thee, O LORD and all thy saints shall bless thee!
11 They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and tell of thy power,
12 to make known to the sons of men thy mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of thy kingdom.
13 Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endures throughout all generations. The LORD is faithful in all his words, and gracious in all his deeds.
14 The LORD upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all look to thee, and thou givest them their food in due season.

LYRICS:

Lord, you are risen all glorious  alleluia  
Christ rising hails his new creation
The angels sing in exultation
A new heaven and earth you will to be
Our bodies raised like yours in glory
                 
With  new eyes, we will see
You  in all your divine glory
With new voices, we will sing
With the angels in harmony
With new ears, we will hear
Our Lord and Lady singing
Leading us in praise and thanksgiving 
To the Father of love and all the living
Now Christ is with us each day
Leading us on our pilgrim way
As our model and our way

Salmo responsorial para Domingo 2 de Pascua B – Salmo 117 – La misericordia del Señor es eterna (o de la Divina Misericordia). Descarga gratuita de partituras en el siguiente enlace. Todos los versos del salmo están disponibles. / Responsorial psalm for 2nd Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday) Cycle B. Free download of sheet music at the following link. All the psalm verses are available.

catholicliturgyinsong.org/product/domingo-2-de-pascua-b-salmo-117-la-misericordia-del-senor-es-eterna-o-de-la-divina-misericordia

Para recibir notificaciones de nuevos salmos cada semana, suscríbase a nuestro canal de YouTube. / To get notifications of new psalms each week, please subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/CatholicLiturgyInSong

Gracias por escuchar. Estamos tratando de mejorar nuestras muestras de música. Por favor, dinos lo que piensas. / Thank you for listening. We are trying to improve our music samples. Please tell us what you think.

Music © 2019, Anthony Moran, catholicliturgyinsong.org

Originally posted April 10, 2021

On February 22, 1931, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ appeared to Sister Faustina in Cracow Poland. These apparitions lasted until 1938 just before she died and the beginning of World War II. In the diary, our Lord asked her to write, he tells of the infinite depths of his  Divine Mercy and asked for the daily praying of the divine mercy chaplet. He also requested that a Feast day be celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter and praying of a divine mercy novena starting on Good Friday. He gave her the exact words of this chaplet and novena in the dairy, which was first published in Polish in Rome with Vatican approval in 1981Sister Faustina was canonized on April 30, 2000, by St John Paul II.
On the same day, He instituted Divine Mercy Sunday, which we will...

I was inspired by lyrics posted by TCS member asiansa09, in her blog post here at TCS: "For the Love of Humanity." Dan was hoping that someone could set her lyrics to music. I took on the challenge. 

Initially, I composed an upbeat Folk-Gospel styled song which greatly modified Dan's lyrics. It is called God's Gift to All the World and is posted here.

Next, I created a chant-styled song that is much more faithful to Dan's original lyrics and is totally different than the Folk-Gospel version. Listen to it below. I sing along with my dulcimer.

Let me know what you like and do not like. I appreciate the feedback. Let me know if you would like notated sheet music for this. 

For the Love of Humanity

CHORUS
I have seen water and blood 
flowing out from the heart of Christ.
Blessing my brothers and sisters 
for all generations.

VERSE
A message from Christ to Sister Faustina
for the love of humanity:
Christ wants to illuminate the way for us
and draw every soul to his heart.
His image is a fountain of... 

Originally posted May 3, 2017

As part of my series on Catholic hymns, I have chosen a hymn that was written by Father Frederick Faber in 1861. Father Faber was a convert to Catholicism and began writing hymns in 1848. How many times during our lives do we seem lost in earth’s dark night? How often does some anxiety overwhelms us, some fear because of the words or actions of others?

Please take a few moments to read about this beautiful collection of daily invocations to the Blessed Mother for her help, her intercession, and her protection.

Please visit my website Mother of Mercy Catholic Hymns and click on HYMN OF THE MONTH.

https://www.motherofmercycatholichymns.com/mary-dearest-mother/

LYRICS:
     
Alleluia  alleluia  alleluia   alleluia                                                                                                                                         
1 You rose from the dead victorious

2 Your body and soul all glorious

3 The angels sang in divine harmony

4 All nature rejoiced exultantly

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL24R5dMl53I9nvY897_twC2x3l2wtEa-c&si=DIf1EaRQB1WN8QE1

A blessed and happy Holy Saturday to you all!

We share above the playlist for the psalms sung in response to the readings at this evening's vigil mass. These settings have been composed by the Pilgrim People choirs of Singapore and re-published here with their blessing.

Please click on the link above to access.

Peace,

Our Lady of the Rosary,
Verdun,
St. John,
Barbados.

This is the translation/version of the Liturgy of the Hours(Ibreviery)
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? *
You are far from my plea and the cry of my distress.
O my God, I call by day and you give no reply; *
I call by night and I find no peace.
Yet you, O God, are holy, *
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
In you our fathers put their trust; *
they trusted and you set them free.
When they cried to you, they escaped. *
In you, they trusted and never in vain.
But I am a worm and no man, *
scorned by men, despised by the people.
All who see me deride me. *
They curl their lips, they toss their heads.
“He trusted in the Lord, let him save him; *

Responsorial Psalm 115(116):12-13,15-18 for Maundy Thursday

The blessing-cup that we bless is a communion with the blood of Christ.

How can I repay the Lord
for his goodness to me?
The cup of salvation I will raise;
I will call on the Lord’s name.

The blessing-cup that we bless is a communion with the blood of Christ.

Wine Press No greater Love or deeper anguish there ever was or will be Than on the cross on Golgotha And in the olive garden of Gethsemane There all the world’s sin guilt and utter sorrow Was laid on you for you to bear There you were crushed By all the weight of our human despair Like in a wine press your body sweat blood and all because of your love for us No one could know the depths you suffered Except Him who knew you perfectly God your Father No one could give the sacrifice you offered all holy and pure And by your cross stood your Holy Mother A sword of sorrow pierced her heart And in your sacrifice she took part And in utter anguish you cried out My God my God why have you forsaken me You prayed Psalm twenty-two Then in pure Faith into your Father’s hands you

I wrote this song in the 1990s about an athetoid cerebral palsy student who came into my class at the age of 14. He had no control of his limbs save some control of his head and was unable to speak. 
He needed total care. He seemed to have normal intelligence. This was confirmed when we got him a computer with a program that enabled him to select words and sentences using his head to control a switch. He had a wonderful family who were devout Catholics.

I had some wonderful conversations with him about his condition in relation to his faith in the good Lord and about heaven where the  Lord will give us a new glorified body like his own. Between the loving care he received from his mom, dad, and brother and the gift of Faith, he was grateful to be alive and prayed for us all. I was truly blessed to know him and his family.

Responsorial Psalm 30(31):2,6,12-13,15-17,25 for Good Friday

Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.

In you, O Lord, I take refuge.
Let me never be put to shame.
In your justice, set me free,
Into your hands I commend my spirit.
It is you who will redeem me, Lord.

Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.

Hi! As we celebrated St. Joseph this week, I wanted to make this week some experiments with AI, using Suno. The results are below, and they do not sound that bad... What do you think of it?

The Church leads us to follow Christ in his suffering, death, and Resurrection, in a focused way, during the liturgical days it calls the Triduum.  Following Christ helps us through our own small or sometimes heavy experiences of various kinds of suffering and “death(s)” that we can offer up in union with Christ for the salvation of others. The Church has experienced this in her history as in the case of the protestant reformation in England, when the church underwent great persecution, martyrdom, and seeming death. We will all experience a final suffering and physical death and by God’s grace our resurrection. The Church teaches us that there will be a final suffering, death, and, resurrection of the Church at the end time. How or when it happens is not specified.

Responsorial Psalm 21(22):8-9,17-20,23-24 for Palm Sunday

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

All who see me deride me.
They curl their lips, they toss their heads.
‘He trusted in the Lord, let him save him;
let him release him if this is his friend.’

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Many dogs have surrounded me,

Free downloads of sheet music and audio demos for Salmos Responoriales for 10 seasonal liturgies at insong.org/salmos-responsoriales-y-aclamaciones

The links below include Domingo de Ramos (Palm Sunday), el Triduo (the Triduum), and Domingo de Pascua de la Resurrección del Señor (Easter Sunday).

• Domingo de Ramos ABC - Salmo 21 - Dios mío, ¿por qué me has abandonado?
• Jueves Santo: Misa vespertina de la Cena del Señor ABC - Salmo 115 - Gracias, Señor, por tu sangre que nos lava
• Viernes Santo de la Pasión del Señor - Salmo 30 - Padre, en tus manos encomiendo mi espíritu
• Vigilia Pascual en la Noche Santa - Salmo 15 - Protégeme, Dios mío, porque me refugio en ti
• Vigilia Pascual en la Noche Santa - Salmo 103 - Bendice al Señor, alma mía
• Vigilia Pascual en la Noche Santa - Éxodo 15 - Alabemos al Señor por su victoria
• Vigilia Pascual en la Noche Santa - Isaías 12 - Sacarán agua con gozo de la fuente de la salvación
• Vigilia Pascual en la Noche Santa - Salmo 18 - Tú tienes, Señor, palabras de vida eterna
• Vigilia Pascual en la Noche Santa - Salmo 41 - Estoy sediento del Dios que de la vida
• Domingo de Pascua - Salmo 117 - Éste es el día del triunfo del Señor. Aleluya.

Originally published April 5, 2022