Top Catholic Songs

Responsorial Psalms 97 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power

 

1) Deep in the subway night
We heard a baby’s  cry    
With bombs blasting loud above
We heard a mothers lullaby
Sweet and full of love
Grace falling on all of us

2) We all joined her love song
And through her love we became strong
By a baby’s loud cry
And a mom’s sweet lullaby

Jesus Living in Mary is a classic Marian hymn that is popularly used during prayers for the Holy Rosary, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Peace, Notre Dame, Immaculate Conception, Guadalupe and Medjugorhe.

I like the reverent yet lively tone of this hymn. Not too long, not too short. It is the right length to feel a little break when saying long prayers. 

The lyrics are simple and easily understood. This song can work as a children's hymn yet will make a great choice as a congregation hymn for Marian liturgies. Most of all, it is easy to play on guitar as the chord progression is predictable.

The chord sheet is attached here, using A on capo 3.

 

Luke 16:26

Instrumentation: Voice, string quartet
Duration: 1’

E♭m6       A♭m
There’s a chasm
E♭m6                          A♭m
Between heaven and hell
Emaj13        Bmaj7
No one can cover the distance

 

Small Space, No Face - a pro-life song written from the perspective of an unborn child in the womb.

 1 ) You are the Lord  of mercy                                                                    
Help us to  see
How we all need your gracious mercy
Spirit of truth and love help me to be 
Mercy to everyone as you are with me

REFRAIN 
**You are the Lord of mercy
To all who seek  the Truth

For the month of the Holy Rosary. See chord sheet attached.

This 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time Psalms is taken from Psalm 94. Feel free to use this music from Catholic Church Hymns.  Simple and easy to sing. The chords are in the video itself. All the best. 

 

Instrumentation: Voice, ukulele, cello
Duration: 1’

A capella
I’m a starving mess
Lying in the dirt
I’m eyeing the husks
Ransom me

Dm                    A7
I’m a splintered wreck
G                    Dm
Sinking in the depths
Em                    Dm

'Daily, daily sing to Mary, sing my soul her praises due' was first writen by the French monk St Bernard Cluny in the 12th century. It was later adopted into English and included in the Christian hymbook Paderborn Gesangbuch in 1765.

 

The Martyrs of Compiègne were sixteen French Catholic women who refused to give up the faith despite being imprisoned by the anti-Christian government in 1794 France. Sentenced to death by the revolutionary tribunal during the Reign of Terror, they sang hymns on their way to the guillotine. The remaining women continued to sing as they were executed one by one, until the last sang by herself before dying. Their feast day is July 17, the date they were martyred.

Instrumentation: SSAA chorus, harpsichord, bass
Duration: 1’30”

1 In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This cornerstone, this solid Ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my all in all,
Here in the love of Christ I stand

2 Come bring us home  O Jesus come
More glorious than of  all the suns
You give us grace help us to cope

St. Mark Ji Tianxang (1834-1900) was a lay Catholic doctor in China. Becoming addicted to opium after an injury, he was denied communion for 30 years but persevered in going to church, finally being allowed to resume receiving the Eucharist. During the Boxer Rebellion, he chose martyrdom rather than renounce his faith. His feast day is July 7.

Instrumentation: Voice, guitar, percussion
Duration: 1’

Dm     Am    Em7     Dm  Dm(maj7) Dm7 Dm6 Dm
Thirty years lost in a haze
Dm      Am   Em7          Dm6       Dm  Dm6 Dsus4 D Dm
All that time caught in a powerful trap

Dm     Am  Em7              Dm(maj7) Dm6
Kept apart from the Table
Dm        Am Em7               Dm(maj7)      Dm6   Dsus4 D Dm
For wanting more than wanting what you should.

       Cmaj7                      F
But brother, we’re not so different
           Cmaj7                   Asus4
We’re all in snares of our own

Instrumentation: Voice, Piano
Duration: 1’

C♭                                  F♭maj7
All of those years and a world away -
C♭          F♭maj7
can you hear me

1 ) Before  the throne of God above                               
I have a strong and perfect plea             
A great High Priest whose name is Love              

In honor of Pope Leo’s birthday, “Litany of the Popes” lists all the names used by the popes since the foundation of the Church. Each bracketed note is meant to be determined by the syllables in each pope’s name. For example, Julius would be two C notes as a duplet followed by a D; Anacletus would be three C notes as a triplet followed by a D, etc. It’s a great way for CCD students to learn the history of the Church.

Instrumentation: voice only
Duration: 3’

(sheet music attached)
 

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648-95) was a Mexican nun, poet, dramatist and scholar. Her “Villancico VI” was a 1676 poem celebrating the Assumption and is used as the lyrical basis for “Arrival.”

Instrumentation: SATB chorus with concert band.
Duration: 2’

(sheet music attached)
 

1) O church, arise and put your armor on
Hear the call of Christ our king
For now the weak can say that they are strong
In the strength that God has given.
With shield of faith and belt of truth
We'll stand against the devil's lies;
An army bold whose battle cry is "Love!"
Reaching out to those in darkness.