Top Catholic Songs

Nick Alexander here... We are already into our second week of Advent, with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception before us, as well as the Solemnity of Our Lady of Guadalupe. And Christmas is merely weeks away. Are you aware that TopCatholicSongs has a number of playlists already available to correspond to your Seasonal needs? And, as is the benefits of these lists, you can immediately link to the iTunes page, where you can listen to the tracks first, and then purchase them--and instantly have them downloaded onto your computer. From there, you can listen freely, or you can upload them onto your own MP3 player, or burn them directly onto a CD. If you like any particular song in the list, you are further free to explore that artist's full output, also on the iTunes page. Or, you can click to any number of direct links on these lists, and have access to a Catholic or independent music retailer, where you can purchase the full CDs (perhaps as a gift?) How do you have access to the Advent Lists? Or the Mary Lists? Or the Christmas lists? Easy. On the bottom of each entry there are a number of Tags. Click on the tag that you would want to listen to (say, Advent), and immediately all the Advent pages will come up. It will be fun just sorting through them all. In the meantime, do you have any favorite psalms/hymns/spiritual songs that are befitting for the season? Feel free to share them... leave a comment below!

Courtesy of Grapevine magazine.

Nick Alexander here... The votes have been tallied and counted, and according to the community of Top Catholic Songs, this is the list for the Top Songs of Mary. Each of these songs express a particular devotion to Mary, or are songs based out of her words from Scripture. The key to Marian songs, of course, is to honor her as one would honor one's own mother, but not to the level of worship (reserved for God only). It was her "Yes," after all, that opened the door for Jesus to come into the world, that, in turn, opened the door for salvation for all humanity.

1. Queen of Heaven by Mark Mallett
   
   You, you are the Queen of Heaven And we honor you ‘Cause you, you said “I will”, to the Father For all of us and you You take our prayers And you wrap them in your mantle of love Ya, you lead us to The only Son of God our Lord above O blessed are you among women O and blessed is the fruit of your womb
2. Mary's Song by Sean Clive
   We need to imitate Mary in her acceptance of God’s love and complete surrender of herself to the Maker of all things. Do we praise God enough for the good things He has done for us? I don’t. Not nearly enough for so many gifts. (Luke 1:26-56)
3. Hail Mary, Gentle Woman by Gretchen Harris
   This popular song by Carey Landry has such beautiful, gentle lyrics ... I love how our Blessed Mother is called "Peaceful Dove!" My ministry is Marian, with the desire to encourage Marian devotion and in turn inspire more frequent prayer of the Rosary, all in hopes of consoling our Blessed Mother.
4. Medjugorje by Paul Harrigan
   Our Blessed Mother Mary got a hold of my sick heart and brought me to her Son Jesus, our Divine Physician. And He has healed me! Please visit my YouTube page to view my EWTN performance of "Medjugorje."
5. Mary (Magnificat) by Fr. Kent O'Connor It is based on the words that Mary speaks to Elizabeth at the Visitation. It is a duet with myself and a good friend, Steve Courtney. I wanted a version of the Magnificat that was a bit more upbeat than the versions that I often hear. Originally written a little more "rowdy," it was re-arranged, and now it is a song that starts gently but slowly builds to a joyful end. I also wanted to stay very close lyrically to the version that I pray every evening.
6. Do Whatever He Tells You by Nick Cardilino
   I originally wrote this song back in 2000 in celebration of the beatification of Fr. Chaminade, who founded the Marianists. "Do Whatever He Tells You" became Fr. Chaminade's motto and the way he tried to live. Mary's spirit of obedience to God's will was how he sought to live out his life. So, my hope in writing this song is to encourage all of us to turn to Mary as a model of true discipleship.
7. Song to Our Lady of Guadalupe by Annie Karto
   From the popular melody "Lord You Have Come to the Seashore" are beautiful lyrics honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of America. Trumpets and acoustic guitar add a Mexican flair.
8. Ode to Mary by Mark Mallett
   
   When I was born many years ago You were there to greet my cry Fruit of my mother’s womb You became the Mother of my life I was baptized, beneath your eyes With the Father, Spirit and your Son Full of grace... I turned my face O your work had just begun Hail Mary, Hail Mary, Mary mother to me Hail Mary, Hail Mary, you are the Queen of my life
9. Ave Maria by Trish Foti Genco
   Classic rendition of the Bach/Gounod. A favorite of mine to sing.
10. Queen of Apostles by Nancy Krebs
    This song won the EWTN Marian Song Contest in 2004, and went on to represent the U.S. in the XX World Festival of Marian Songs in Guatemala. I went there to sing it, and the song came in 5th among 24 nations. It was a great honor and a thrill to be there and to see how people from all over the region loved this festival in honor of the Blessed Mother.

Feel free to check out these excellent songs, and to deepen your devotion to Our Lady for this year.