Top Catholic Songs – share, learn, promote

I need a real piano player!

Solo version by Richard Schletty (guitar and voice). A collaboration with David Gomez, www.fourhandsproject.com.

The Joy of Grace (no. 11)
5th Movement, Hungry for Heaven – www.hungryforheaven.com

Rolling down a highway slipstream
You're missing signs, you don't look both ways
Just passing time in your dream machine
On a journey, out of phase

In the cradle of a grand creation
Under the moon and stars above
You begin to read the cracks and the ripples
You begin to feel a season of love

You are a member of His body
You are reflected in His face
You are a laborer for justice 
You are infected with His grace

You are cooled in the shade of a holy tree
Watered from the well of eternity
Nourished by the Word, dancing joyously

[refrain]
Our Lord will lead you to this place
Our Lord will bring the joy of grace

Write your songs in the desert
Dream your visions in streams of unrest
Run the viridian shoreline
Harvest the teeming tempest forest

[refrain]
Our Lord will lead you to this place
Our Lord will bring the joy of grace

Praise the God of all souls
Praise the Lord of the way
Praise the Healer of woes
Praise our Hope for each day

Hear the unborn babies wailing
Fear our lost humanity
Hear the rattle of broken vows
Fear the shadows of vanity

What will bring us through?
It is grace!
Know the joy of grace!
What will bring us through?
It is grace!
Know the joy of grace!

[refrain]
Our Lord will lead you to this place
Our Lord will bring the joy of grace
Our Lord will lead you to this place
Our Lord will bring the joy of grace

Music (c)2007 David Gómez Sanz
Lyrics (c)2007 Richard Cecil Schletty
www.hungryforheaven.com

Duerme, Niño, Duerme will be released on a wonderfully diverse Christmas album by Fetal Records called "A Colorful Christmas" in late October, 2015. Watch here for links to iTunes, CDBaby, Amazon Music and Spotify. You may preview the song from this page.

Digital download of the album is available now, direct from Fetal Records.

A Colorful Christmas is a collection of Christmas songs, original and covers, in multiple genres by a diverse group of passionate and inspiring artists with different backgrounds. Featuring Internationally known bluesman Charlie Sayles, Tony Fazio, Scott Taylor, Richard Schletty, Greg Phillips, Subsidiarity, Law & Order, Ken Wenzel, and Jane Kraemer. “If you build it, they will come.” And so they came and came in force. Twelve originals and six traditional covers.

Duerme, Niño, Duerme (Spanish for Sleep, Baby, Sleep) is a collaboration with my brother Chris who dreamt this song and with André van Haren (www.andrevanharen.com) who did the orchestral arrangement. Sheet music from simple to orchestral arrangements is available upon request. 

See English version of this song here: https://www.topcatholicsongs.com/sleep-baby-sleep

Artists: Richard Schletty (vocals), André van Haren (virtual instrumentation)
Orchestral arrangement: André van Haren
English verses lyrics and melody: Christopher Schletty
Bridge lyrics and melody: Richard Schletty
Spanish translation from English: Elías de Andrés Martos
Copyright © 2004 Christopher Schletty and Richard Schletty

Sequence for Pentecost. Voice and 6-string nylon string guitar performed by Richard Schletty. Text: Sequence for Pentecost, 13th Century; translated by Peter Scagnelli, © 1983. Tune: Mode I; accompaniment by Adrian Engels, © Interkerkelijke Stichting voor het Kerklied.

There are two days on the church calendar (Easter and Pentecost) when the liturgy calls for a "sequence," a special hymn that may be sung or recited before the gospel. The sequence for Pentecost dates from the 12th century. This setting's text is an English translation by Peter Scagnelli. It is #981 in GIA's RitualSong hymnbook and #470 in GIA's Gather Comprehensive, Second Edition.

The song art is the center portion of a massive 50-foot-wide mural I painted for Holy Spirit Parish a few years ago. Details here: Grasped by the Holy Spirit mural

Holy Spirit, Lord Divine,
Come, from heights of heav’n and shine.
Come with blessed radiance bright!

Come, O Father of the poor,
Come, whose treasured gifts endure.
Come, our heart’s unfailing light!

Of consolers, wisest, best,
And our souls’ most welcome guest,
Sweet refreshment, sweet repose.

In our labor rest most sweet,
Pleasant coolness in the heat,
Consolation in our woes.

Light most blessed, shine with grace
In our heart’s most secret place,
Fill your faithful through and through!

Left without your presence here,
Life itself would disappear,
Nothing thrives apart from you!

Cleanse our soiled hearts of sin,
Arid souls refresh within,
Wounded lives to health restore!

Bend the stubborn heart and will,
Melt the frozen, warm the chill,
Guide the wayward home once more!

On the faithful who are true
And profess their faith in you,
In your sev’n-fold gift descend!

Give us virtue’s sure reward,
Give us your salvation, Lord,
Give us joys that never end!