Top Catholic Songs – share, learn, promote

As we prepare for the solemnity of Our Lady's Immaculate Conception it is good to ponder the great Love God had for Mary in preparing her to become the mother of His beloved divine Son (the new Adam) as well as her becoming the new Eve. It is also good to ponder the great humility and obedience she practiced in the great graces the Good Lord gave her
 LYRICS:

LYRICS:
AM/EM AM            EM   AM/ EM   AM       EM   AM/EM  AM       Em/AM
Lord      have mer cy -  Christ  have mer cy - Lord       have mer cy
In your tender mercy
Dear Lord we implore thee
Listen with favor to our prayer
Offered through our Mother Mary
Heed the sighs of your lowly ones
Who intercede with utter confidence
For all your daughters and sons
Who search for You in shadows
You know our weakness and enemy
how we are deceived so easily 
How our hearts are restless
Hungry for love and purpose
The world offers many ideologies     You delight in us living in your will
With half-truths and fake beauty       contemplating You being still

LYRICS
IN JOYFUL HOPE
Intro chords   B - A -E 
B7                             E        A7                                    E
We wait in Joyful Hope in silence and sacred  songs
B7                A7         B7                                                E/A/E
Longing to see you longing for your merciful embrace
B7                                                         E

I wrote this song after the 9/11 attacks. In scripture and throughout salvation history we see the Good Lord permitting certain obvious evils to happen for His own long-term divine salvific purposes. The temptation and fall of Adam and Eve and the rejection/crucifixion of our Divine Savior Jesus - all interactions with the mystery of evil that were permitted in the exercise of our free will and His salvific purpose. Every morning in the Office of Readings we are offered the choice of singing Psalm 67 that  tells of God's loving control of History: (You must know that God is offering his salvation to all the world (Acts 28:28).) Here is a section of Psalm 67

O God, be gracious and bless us *
and let your face shed its light upon us.
So will your ways be known upon earth *
and all nations learn your saving help.

Ant. Come, let us praise the Lord; in him is all our delight.

My wife Susan and I wrote the lyrics. One line states love discriminates truth it conceals is a reference to Jesus concealing His divine personhood to most people until his public ministry, when he gradually revealed His Divine identity.

                                     PSALM 22
 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
 Why are you so far from helping me from the words of my groaning?
 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;
  and by night, but find no rest 
    
    Yet you are holy,
    enthroned on the praises of Israel.
     In you our ancestors trusted;
    they trusted, and you delivered them.
    To You they cried, and were saved;
    in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
    But I am a worm and not a man;

A prayer for help to do God"s will realizing the essential need of His grace.

This is like a new psalm. Lyrics:

Now in your kingdom of Peace - We work and pray and daily feast
On you The Word and Living Bread - By which we live and daily fed
Daily you perfect us in your will - how to listen and be still
You teach us what we must do -  to humbly follow you        

The evil one shall not prevail
Your mercy will never fail
For By your cross, we are victorious
For you are God all glorious
We Praise you Lord for our salvation
All you angels, His power proclaim;

A song of Joyful Hope for Christ's coming in the fullness of time.

The TE Deum is an ancient hymn. It is unique in that it is a permanent part of the Divine Office. It is said(sung) at the end of Matins/Vigils/Office of Readings after the final reading and before the closing prayer on Sundays and Holy Days
You are God: we praise you;
You are the Lord: we acclaim you;
You are the eternal Father:
All creation worships you.
To you all angels, all the powers of heaven,
Cherubim and Seraphim, sing in endless praise:
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
The glorious company of apostles praise you.
The noble fellowship of prophets praise you.
The white-robed army of martyrs praise you.
Throughout the world the holy Church acclaims you:
Father, of majesty unbounded,
your true and only Son, worthy of all worship,
and the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide.
You, Christ, are the king of glory,

During my university days in the 1960s I lost my Faith in the Lord Jesus and His Church and in my search for something to replace that Faith I turned to Zen Buddhism and Yoga. I was a follower of Alan Watts an ex Episcopal "priest"  turned Zen "master".  I read many of his books and listen to his radio lectures on the Boston University radio station every Sunday.  After about eight years I returned to the good Lord and his Catholic Church through the intercession of many prayers of family and friends and the direct witness of two dear Christian friends. The point of this song is to show how there are some truths in many of the "new age" syncretisms and that we who know the fullness of truth and Love in the good Lord and his beloved church must pray for and when possible must give witness to people who are involved in any of the 'New Age" movements.

A song recognizing our complete dependence on the Good Lord and asking Him to do whatever He ( wills) needs to do to breakthrough our false sense of independence.

LYRICS:
Create a clean heart, a clean in me O God
A clean heart create in me,O God,
And a steadfast spirit renew within me.
 Cast me away from Your presence
And Your Holy Spirit take not from me.
Give me back the joy of Your salvation
And a willing spirit sustain in me.
 I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners shall return to You.
Create a clean heart - a clean heart in me O GOD
For You are not pleased with sacrifices, 
Should I offer you a holocaust
You would not accept it
My sacrifice O God is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humble, O God, You will not spurn
Create a clean heart - A clean heart in me O God
Create a clean heart - A clean heart in me O God

St. Paul in his letter to the Colossians urges us to set our minds on things above. That we should become heavenly-minded.  We were created to be - to live in ecstasy with our Triune God and all the angels and saints forever -sharing in a human way in divine life in a heavenly atmosphere. Pope Benedict in his trilogy on Jesus of Nazareth calls this reality the definitive "evolutionary" step in human existence that is hard for us to grasp. In his Letters, St Paul's vivid description of this difficulty says  - what eye has not seen, nor ear has not heard nor the human heart conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him. Throughout scripture The Good Lord does give is glimpses of the Heavenly reality for us to reflect on and yearn for. This song is a reflection on the scriptural glimpses that He has given us.
                        GLORYSPHERE

LYRICS:
                                             Enfolds you
                                                  
The Nights coming on and you want to be deep in silence