Top Catholic Songs

NOTE: We originally published this post in May of 2017. We submitted this song to Oregon Catholic Press (ocp.org) but it was not accepted.

Jesus Makes Our World So Beautiful is a Christmas song co-written by Dan vi Nguyen, Richard Schletty and André van Haren. Dan posted her lyrics here and asked if anyone could make a song out of her words. Richard Schletty rewrote the lyrics to give them a consistent rhyme, line length, metrical pattern and overall poetic structure. Then Richard came up with a melody. Next, André van Haren wrote a beautiful piano arrangement based on an a cappella recording of the melody by Richard. Using Sibelius, André engraved the sheet music not only for piano and voice, but developed the song fully by adding guitar chords and two additional instruments: flute and cello. He also engraved a version of the song with optional SATB harmonies in the refrain.

VERSE 1
A child is born to Mary through the Spirit,
Surrounded by the warmth of sheep and oxen.
In this humble manger, on this joyful night,
Is the promised one for all generations!

CHORUS
Jesus is the way to peace and joy.
He shows us how to be merciful.
He's the bright star we all need in our lives.
Jesus makes our world so beautiful.

Hip Hop lyrics by Alex were made into a Hip Hop song and a Folk-Country song. See how we did it! Richard has recorded two audio demos. See the Comments section for the progression of lyrics and the two different song approaches.

Love 101
Original Hip Hop lyrics by Alex:

1st Verse:
The cold weather followed me around town
But I never sold my soul even though I was mostly down...
Then I got to know the lord
That's when I knew it was time to put down my sword
That frown turned upside down and I started to adore...

Sometimes I fall to my knees and pray, come Jesus come
Let today be the day, some - times I feel like I'm gonna break
But I hold on to you and you won't  let  me go
So many poor and broken souls
Bring them to me – I'll make them whole

REFRAIN
Come Jesus come, we've been waiting so long
For the day You return to heal ev'ry hurt and right ev'ry wrong