Top Catholic Songs – share, learn, promote

I thought some of you might like to know how I do research for my HYMN OF THE MONTH write-ups and so I thought I would take a moment to explain my methodology in hopes that it might inspire and help others. When doing my hymn research, the first step for me is the selection process. Several factors will affect my decision...

Please click on the link to read more.

https://www.motherofmercycatholichymns.com/conducting-hymn-research/​​​​​​​

Just as the Lord sent the greatest of prophets to prepare his way at his first coming, he now sends us the Queen of all prophets to bring us back to him with our whole hearts.

The Queen of Prophets you send to us

REFRAIN

O Jesus - human love divine
You turned water into wine
O Transform our broken hearts
Unto hearts like yours divine

You trusted with childlike simplicity

REFRAIN

Hail holy queen - mother of mercy
Our life our sweetness and hope
To thee do we come - help us be
Holy, as the Father wills us to be

Without original sin you were conceived

Father in your son we abide
And in his church his holy bride
Through him, you give us all grace
In him, we see/adore your holy face

In every time and place

As part of my series on Catholic hymns, I have chosen a hymn that St. Mary’s Choir in Akron, Ohio sang on many occasions, it is one of my favorite hymns. How many of us have need of a friend like Jesus? Someone who really understands, who knows our difficulties and who knows the weight of the cross. This is a very beautiful hymn to sing especially in these days when we read about and hear of the need to have a personal relationship with Jesus. The hymn has been forgotten by all except for a few vintage organists, hymnologists, and choir members like myself. Ask your organist or choir director to sing this wonderful hymn at your next Mass.

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

https://www.motherofmercycatholichymns.com/i-need-thee-precious-jesus/

O divine/ creator spirit holy one
Spirit of the Father and the Son
O breath of their divine love
In you/ they live now in us

Inspire us to sing pure love songs
And of heaven for which we long

Original song post is here: https://www.topcatholicsongs.com/node/1811

A Sound and a devil

You went away on a plane 
And we waited
While six weeks went by
And when you returned you stated
I'm sick of this place goodbye

So many days so many echoes
A sound and a devil in your dreams
A sound isn't always what it seems
And the devil had his word said
While the Lord had offered a piece of bread

The red eye made you tired
Up so early you were wired
What would have been
Had you never come home
Leaving your sons and daughter alone
Whether or not you were there
Made a difference
Though the rain was always coming down

So many days so many echoes
A sound and a devil in your dreams

second half of Psalm 103 strophes 8 to 12 

Praise the Lord, my soul!
8 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him
For he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust
  9 As for man his days are like grass,
  he flowers like a flower of the field;

I wrote this song at the request of my son when he and friend led a group of young people to world youth day in Lisbon

Divine  Trinity

  G               D              C                    F          C  
From every land and tongue with joy, we come
C                                      F          C      
To Lisbon led by your Divine Son
C                                     F   C       C                           F   C             
As your children dear Father  as brothers and sisters
  C        F                    G   D   G
 To delight in your p r a i s e

My soul give thanks to the lord
all my being, bless his holy name.
  
My soul give thanks to the Lord
and  never forget  all his blessings
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your ills,
 
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
    
The Lord does deeds of Justice...

1)We are living temples of your Holy Spirit
The spirit of truth and love your holy gift
He comforts, admonishes, and inspires us
To be the hands and voice of your divine Son

2) He teaches all truth and  things to come
In him we porcelain that Jesus is lord

You reveal the great mystery - the love divine of the Trinity
The Father - You and Spirit - in pure love eternally
      
We want to live fully and free - to love and loved to be
You showed us how to be truly free -to seek and do our Father’s will

In all the Psalms of petition, but especially those on the brink of despair while alienated from God;  are all on the lips of Jesus. He speaks for us, with us, as one of us. St. Augustine teaches us to pray the Psalms as those caught up in Jesus’ prayer and He in ours. The cross and resurrection are the life of the whole Christ; what goes for Jesus goes also for His Body, the church. This means that in our loneliness, abandonment, suffering, and even death, Christ is there with us and we are with Him, and we are in solidarity with each other.  Pope St. John Paul II often repeated a quote from Vatican II that in his incarnation Christ identified with each one of us in a personal way.

Rejoice, O heaven, from on high
and cry out with joy, both earth and sky,
for after death upon the Cross
Christ rose again and gave us life.

Eternal life forever with him
Free from sorrow, pain, or sin
With all the angels and saints
We will sing joy-filled hymns

I call you now to be still
To live more deeply  in my will
No greater peace or love you’ll find
Than in my will divine


Now we follow you - you are the way
As pilgrims in this passion play
through darkness, death, and fear
You lead us and hold us dear


I call you now to share deeply
my passion intimately
To suffer for love  with me