The last few months have been filled with the release of new Catholic music the faithful can pray with. Three of these artists, all accomplished female musicians, spoke with the Register about how their music uplifts the soul and invites the body of Christ into deeper relationship with the Lord.
If you’ve been desiring to refresh or nourish your prayer life, consider incorporating the prayerful songs of these musical artists into your routine. Whatever season you find yourself in, the songs offer solace, hope and companionship on the journey.
The Lord’s Mercy Is Boundless
“Wherever I go, wherever I’ll run / At every step I am met by your love / Time after time, I know I will find / Your mercy, Your mercy divine.” — Laura Huval (with fellow songwriters Ross King, Patrick Mayberry, and Dana Catherine), Mercy Divine, 2024 single
Laura Huval’s latest single, Mercy Divine, released on Divine Mercy Sunday, is a soaring meditation on the Lord’s unfathomable mercy for each one of us. Huval says of the song: “I wanted the recording to remain prayerful and simple, and it might be my favorite song creation thus far.”
Huval comes from a musically accomplished family: “My late father, Al Berard, was a Grammy-nominated Cajun fiddler who traveled the world, sharing our rich culture and Catholic faith.” Huval, also a Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter, shares with her father “a profound connection with Cajun music,” which deeply influenced her upbringing in Cecilia, Louisiana. She is further rooted in her family’s cultural and musical heritage through participation in a family band: “I perform in a band with my sister and cousin called Sweet Cecilia, named after our hometown and St. Cecilia, the patroness of singers and musicians.”
It is only since 2021 that Huval has entered music ministry full time. “My mission is ‘sharing the Gospel one song at a time,’” she said. Besides the recently released single, Huval’s latest work includes the 2023 album Raised in the Choir Loft (Oregon Catholic Press) and Sing the Rosary, a forthcoming work that will be available in October.
Huval experiences music as a way to connect with God and others. “Music is the best way I know how to pray. When I’m writing and performing music, I feel an intimate connection with the divine. It is through music that I connect with the Holy Spirit. It is also the best way for me to communicate with others.” In this season, she’s felt especially connected to her song Make Room: “It reminds me that when we make space for God, our lives are filled beyond our imagination.”
A source of Huval’s creativity and inspiration are the landscapes of South Louisiana: “We are blessed with the Atchafalaya Basin swamp, bayous, giant oak trees and the most genuine people. The beauty of God’s creation here is a constant source of inspiration for me.” One can experience the expansiveness she finds in nature through her lyrics, which invite the listener into meditation and rest. Find her work on LauraHuval.com, at the handle “laurahuvalmusic” on social media, and anywhere music is streamed.
The Lord Wants Our Questions
“If you want me / Here I am, no filters / With questions more than answers / You want me, here I am …” — Sarah Kroger, No Filter, from her 2024 album, A New Reality
Sarah Kroger’s latest album, A New Reality (Integrity Music), dropped on May 17. In it, Kroger presents listeners with songs she characterizes as both of wonder and wondering. “I walked through a period of time recently where my faith has not come as easy for me as it has in the past,” she said. Noting the questions that have arisen in this part of her faith journey, Kroger shared, “I’m learning how to embrace this new reality that God is inviting me into. Faith is just like any other relationship in life — there are good times and bad times, times when you feel it and times when you don’t.”
Feeling that the Lord has been “ministering back to me” through this album, Kroger said that the song No Filter has particularly spoken to her. “That song is about being brutally honest with God; it has really helped me through these dark days to give language to the things I’m struggling with and to be brave in bringing my questions to God and realizing he’s not afraid of our questions. He welcomes them and meets us in them.”
Coming from a musical family, Kroger discovered worship music’s pivotal role in her life on a Life Teen retreat as a teenager. “Contemporary worship music gave me language for how to commune with God and for having a personal relationship with Jesus,” she said. For Kroger, music is a place of rediscovery and grounding of her relationship with the Lord: “I sing not because I know; I sing because I forget: I forget who I am and who God is, and singing worship songs oftentimes reminds me of those very important truths.”
When it comes to what sparks Kroger’s creativity and prompts her to seek beauty, she also points to nature. She grew up near the ocean, which was “a way of having mystery as part of my day-to-day life.” Nature also helps reorient her perspective: “On days when my problems feel like the size of the world, to get out in the world is super helpful and humbling and shifts my perspective.” She also notes that time away from her phone, reading, and being in community open her to inspiration.
A New Reality is an invitation to hope. Kroger can name the darkness and the light that exists in its midst. As Kroger described this album, “These songs are like my collection of psalms.” The invitation to bring God our questions is compelling, and Kroger’s call to do this with “no filters” is bold, beautiful, a breath of fresh air. Her work can be streamed on all platforms, and Kroger recommends readers share her songs with others. Visit SarahKroger.com for show dates and find her on Instagram (@skroger) and YouTube.
The Lord Meets Us on the Way of Love
“If I stay, silence will shape / Words I pray in this holy place / Time and eternity meet / Where You and I will keep / Sweet company” — Marie Miller, Sweet Company, from her 2024 album, The Way of Love
Marie Miller’s latest album, The Way of Love, dropped on May 31. In five tracks, the album is Miller’s first fully lyrically religious album and a meditation on various saints and other Catholics who pursued holiness. The patroness of the album, Miller says, is St. Thérèse of Lisieux: “We are on this way of love. Thérèse talks about how the smallest act of love and sacrifice we can give as flowers to the throne of God. That paves the way of love.”
Each song on the album is inspired by real-life Catholics. For example, the song Take, Lord, Receive, is inspired by St. Ignatius of Loyola. Sweet Company, which has been most speaking to Miller in this season, is inspired in part by J.R.R. Tolkien, who wrote in a letter to his son:
“Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament. … There you will find romance, glory, honour, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves on earth …” (“Letter 43”).
For Miller, the song offers resonance, an invitation into rest, and the recognition that we can be transformed in our relationship with God.
Miller’s singing, song-writing and performing career started at a young age. A pivotal moment was when she picked up Pope John Paul II’s 1999 “Letter to Artists,” through which she discovered “the Divine Artist revealing himself through music.” This led her to desire to spend more and more time at church with the Lord, and, she recalled, “I fell in love with Jesus in the Eucharist.” Today, music continues to provide Miller with a deep connection to the Lord. Like Kroger and Huval, nature sparks her inspiration and helps her seek beauty. She also noted the creative inspiration adoration brings: “Adoration, such a source of peace, puts me in a space to write about the things that matter.”
The Way of Love offers listeners what Miller discovered in the creation of the album: that “the opportunity to talk about something way bigger than myself is extremely freeing.” Like the saints, we’re called to learn, as the lyrics of the title song say, “How sweet is the way of love / How kind is its path / I chose this road like a child / And I’m never turning back.” Find Miller online at MarieMillerMusic.com, where she can be booked for The Way of Love live events, and stream the album on all platforms.
For each of these artists, music is prayer, a way of abiding personally with the Lord. As Miller explained, “Music is a bridge between time and eternity. It touches me and brings me closer to God.”
