Gabriel's Message by the Good Shepherd Band

Palestrina- Missa Brevis

Jesus the Lord by Roc O'Connor

Pie Jesu by The Priests

Thank you Jesus, Grazie Gesù Song of Medjugorje

Jesus, I Believe (Medjugorje)

Sanctus by Medjugorje Youthfest Orchestra and Choir

As I Kneel Before You

Ave Maria by Libera

Lead Kindly Light by Aled Jones

Veni Sancte Spiritus

Misa Criolla (A Favorite of Pope Francis)

Totus Tuus

Detox Your Soul This Lent

The following comes from Patti Maguire Armstrong:

Toxins are poisons that can cause disease if absorbed into our bodies. In the spiritual world, the poison of evilhas been absorbed by our culture.

Christians are hunkering down for the spiritual battle that is intensifying and sometimes, are feeling overwhelmed. I know the feeling. But three things have lifted my spirit recently and have given me a plan to detoxify my soul this Lent

Interview with an Exorcist

While working on an exorcism story, I interviewed Father Vincent Lampert, the designated exorcist for the archdiocese of Indiana. He consulted on the bizarre case of a demonic attack on a family in Indiana. I found Fr. Lampert to be like the other exorcists I’ve interviewed over the years--spiritually uplifting. Consider that exorcists go head-to-head with evil, and then afterwards, can enjoy a good night’s sleep. That’s the kind of peace I want.

Fr. Lampert learned to be an exorcist in 2006 at the North American College in Rome. While studying there for three months, he assisted on over 40 exorcisms withlongtime Italian exorcist Father Carmine De Filippis. Fr. Lampert trained alongside Fr. Gary Thomas, whose experiences became a book by Matt Baglio called "The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist," and inspired the fictionalized movie.

Fr. Lampert emphasized faith as the key to life and according to him, with faith, we need not fear evil. “The power of God is greater than the power of evil,” he said. “I don’t carry a bag of tricks with me, I bring the power and authority of Jesus Christ that he has given to his Church.”

If we stay away from the occult, go to Mass, have faith in God, and pray, Fr. Lampert says we are protected. “The focus is on faith of Jesus Christ and it’s going to be reinforced by going to church,” he said. “The devil is already on the run if you are going to church and especially if you are receiving Communion.”

Fr. Lampert is confident and upbeat. One of his secrets for peace is that he stopped watching the news six years ago. “ I choose to be a positive person,” he said. “I can’t be a Christian and walk around with a long face because no one with a long face is going to bring someone to Christ.” He said that rather than letting the world change us, we should tune out the negative as much as possible and do what we can to change the world. “I believe the Gospel has the power to change the world, and that is what I choose to focus on,” Lampert said.

Raise the Soul through the Mind

With Lampert’s message in mind, I am keenly aware that what I let into my brain, affects my spirit. I don’t plan to stop watching the news (not yet anyways) but during Lent I will fill my mind with holy thoughts. I have selected writings assembled in Meditations for Lent for daily reading. Bossuet was a Seventeenth Century, French bishop, theologian, a brilliant orator, and a student of St. Vincent DePaul. His writings are compared to those of St. Augustine and St. John Chrysostom, and reported to have been at the bedside of Pope Pius XII.

“The whole of the Christian life consists in making this journey [to Heaven] well,” Bossuet writes, “and it was to that end that our Lord directed all his deeds.”

The first day of meditations state, “”We will come to him and make our home with him” (John 14:23). “Desire that he should be in you in this way. Offer yourself to him as his dwelling and temple.”

Bossuet encourages us to look at Jesus in heaven waiting for us so that we will break the chains that holds us down. With such a vision, we are drawn to our Lord who awaits us.

Heavenly Music

Better than a cup of coffee to start the day, is filling up on angelic music that lifts one’s heart towards heaven. The music of Lent at Ephesus soothes the soul in a mystical way. Ironically, it is from a group of women who have separated from the world to answer God’s call. The Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles live a monastic life in the country in the Diocese of Kansas City-Saint Joseph. Hidden from the world, they sow, tend crops, and farm animals. Yet, their voices ring out. 

A young, classically trained Prioress Cecilia and her sisters use music to worship God eight times a day. It is surely his sense of humor that these cloistered nuns have an international recording deal and two other albums that have topped the charts.

Their album, Advent at Ephesus, was #1 on the Billboard's Classical Traditional Music chart for 6 weeks in 2012. Last year, the sisters’ bestselling album, Angels and Saints at Ephesus topped the chart for thirteen weeks.

They have just released Lent at Ephesus, a collection of 23 songs. Three are original compositions inspired from the Diary of St. Faustina. 

“Lent is the time for us to meditate deeply on the love of God for Man,” Sr. Cecilia explained. “Forty days have been lovingly given to the church to prepare her members for the greatest mysteries of our faith.”

I can’t control the world or much of anything really, but I can start the day lifting my mind, heart, and soul to heaven. Regardless of what else you have planned for Lent, it’s never too late to add holy reading and inspirational music. I imagine that it’s the kind of daily activity that will become addicting.

Nada Te Turbe - A Virtual Choir of Carmelites

Ave Maria

Within Our Darkest Night You Kindle A Fire that Never Dies Away

Totus Tuus by Dana

As I stand in the ground that stood
And I walk in your footsteps
I imagine the way that you felt
And the thoughts you were thinking
Did you see my face in the crowed? 
And that I love you.

Totus Tuss totally yours 
Totus Tuss totally yours 
The rock and the lamb
The Lord and the man 
Totus Tuss totally yours .

You told us the people must be free
Every heart must be open
You said that justice is the key
But it takes our love to turn it
You said that you believed in me
You said you loved me.

Totus Tuss totally yours 
Totus Tuss totally yours 
The rock and the lamb
The Lord and the man 
Totus Tuss totally yours.


And we will follow you, 
yes we will follow you,
where ever you lead 
for we believe your message is true.

And we will follow you, 
yes we will follow you,
where ever you lead 
for we believe your message is true.

Totus Tuss totally yours 
Totus Tuss totally yours 
The rock and the lamb
The Lord and the man 
Totus Tuss were totally yours.


Totus Tuss totally yours 
Totus Tuss totally yours 
The rock and the lamb
The Lord and the man
Totus Tuss were totally yours.

And we will follow you, 
yes we will follow you,
where ever you lead 
for we believe your message is true.

And we will follow you, 
yes we will follow you,
where ever you lead 
for we believe your message is true.

Tu es Petrus by Palestrina

Pope Benedict: Sacred music reveals the 'harmonies of heaven'

The following comes from the CNA:

Pope Benedict XVI has praised sacred music as a means of prayer, following a classical concert hosted in his honor at the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo.

“This evening we are immersed in sacred music, that music which in a quite special way is born from faith and can express and communicate faith,” said the Pope. In the midst of daily activities, “you have offered us a moment of meditation and prayer, making us perceive the harmonies of heaven.”

The concert featured various compositions by Cardinal Domenico Bartolucci, the former director of the Sistine Chapel Choir. The 94-year-old Italian has had a long and distinguished career as a composer of sacred music. Pope Benedict recognized this by raising him to the rank of cardinal last year.

“Faith is the light that has always guided and driven his life,” said the Pope in tribute to Cardinal Bartolucci, adding that he has “opened his heart to respond with generosity to the call of the Lord and that has also emerged in his way of composing music.”

“For you, music is a privileged language for communicating the faith of the Church and to help those who listen to his works journey in faith.”

The Pope particularly praised the cardinal for the value he placed on “the precious treasure that is Gregorian chant and the wise use of polyphony, in fidelity to tradition,” while also being “open to new sounds.”

The concert was directed by conductor Simon Baiocchi and featured sopranos Lykke Anholm and Enrica Fabbri, as well as baritone Michele Govi. They were accompanied by the Rossini Chamber Choir of Pesaro and the Marchigiana Philharmonic Orchestra.

The program itself included four pieces composed by Cardinal Bartolucci. Amongst them was his “Ave Maria” as well as a composition based upon the words of the rite of baptism entitled “Baptisma.” The highlight, though, was his “Benedictus” which was specially written for the occasion and dedicated to Pope Benedict XVI.

“This evening you caused us to turn our hearts to Mary in prayer, the most beloved prayer of Christian tradition,” concluded Pope Benedict.

“Yet you also led us back to the beginning of our journey of faith, to the liturgy of Baptism, the moment in which we became Christian: an invitation always to drink from the only water that can quench our thirst - the living God - and to commit ourselves day-after-day to rejecting evil and to renewing our faith with the affirmation ‘I believe!’”