Top Catholic Songs – share, learn, promote

It is good to remember History from a spiritual perspective. I've read recently about World War I and what Pope Benedict XV had to say about it. He called it the suicide of Civilized Europe. In His first Encyclical Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum he said "...On every side the dread phantom of war holds sway: there is scarce room for another thought in the minds of men. The combatants are the greatest and wealthiest nations on the earth; what wonder, then, if, well provided with the most awful weapons modern military science has devised, they strive to destroy one another with refinements of horror. There is no limit to the measure of ruin and of slaughter; day by day the earth is drenched with newly-shed blood, and is covered with the bodies of the wounded and of the slain. Who would imagine as we see them thus filled with hatred of one another, that they are all of one common stock, all of the same nature, all members of the same human society? Who would recognize brothers, whose Father is in Heaven? Yet, while with numberless troops the furious battle is engaged, the sad cohorts of war, sorrow and distress swoop down upon every city and every home; day by day the mighty number of widows and orphans increases, and with the interruption of communications, trade is at a standstill; agriculture is abandoned; the arts are reduced to inactivity; the wealthy are in difficulties; the poor are reduced to abject misery; all are in distress. " https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xv/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xv_enc_01111914_ad-beatis.... In the encyclical he gives the underlying causes of the First World War which we could apply to some extent to the current state of civilization and reflect on.

LYRICS:
1 Lord you gave and give us everything  2 our live. your word and new psalms to sing 3 you showed and show us now  4 in your saints how in Joy to live
1 Dear Father you created us 2 in your gracious divine Love 3 in your image and likeness 4 to know and love you as your children
Dear God Father and Son 2 You send us your Holy Spirit 3 to give us 
A new birth 2 in your divine life of love
Dear God HolySpirit  2 you confirm us as we mature 2 and endow us with your gifts and fruits  4 to purify and make us Holy 
1 In our weakness you intercede for us 2 when we don’t know what to pray for. 3 You inspire the good, true, and beautiful 4 You move us to sing  5 And pine for heaven
You give us a sense of humor 2 that laughs at our disordered pride   3 and vanity 4 and helps us to see our human weakness and frailty 4 with great sympathy
1 You convict us when we sin 2 and lead us to confession 4 You comfort us in our sorrow 4 and lead us to comfort others in sorrow
You inspire artists and scientists, 2 to give thanks and praise to God 
3 You leed us to all truth 4 and rejoice in childlike simplicity 
You teach us the signs of the times 2 the outpouring of your grace divine 3 As confusion and lies rise 4 you fill us with  your truth and love 
You give us a missionary zeal 2 to bring your Love in truth 3 to those You send us to 
1  In material prosperity 2 you give us the spirit of poverty 3 and  show all human progress comes from  you 4 for our common good and your glory
1 You teach us that pride, greed, and miserliness 2 distort our use of God’s gracious gifts,3 and rob many of knowing God’s love 4 and justice
1 You convict the world about sin 2 that the evil one tries to hide
3 with  cunning and subtle lies 4 but you cleans our ears and eyes
You remind us of Europe, that by 1914, 2 had in truth rejected God’s  Son 3 and started World War One 4 sacrificing 20 million sons to the Gods 4 of power, pride, and materialism.

1 Glory to the Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit 2 Loving each other eternally 3  creating us to partake 4  in their Love divine intimately