Liturgy Planning
Click the Sunday title to go to the USCCB readings.
If a recording is available, click the title of the song to listen.
Click here for a list of psalm responses for Years A, B, and C.
11th Sunday in Ordinary Time
| Entrance | Victor | "Once we were a nameless people / Once we were a hopeless cause / But Your love raised us from our grave / Now we are a people living and redeemed" directly mirrors Exodus 19:5 — "you shall be my special possession... a kingdom of priests, a holy nation." Romans 5:10 "once reconciled, will we be saved by his life" finds its echo in "Now we are in Jesus Christ and we've been set free." | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
| Offertory | Even Still | "Even still You came for me / My Savior killed by shame and greed / By Your cross came hell's defeat / In my place You died for me" is a near-direct musical setting of Romans 5:8 — "while we were still sinners Christ died for us." The word "still" in both the lyric and the reading makes the connection precise. | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
| Communion | Gentle King | "With a love as tender as a shepherd / Who lost his sheep / And again and again You bring me to your arms" directly mirrors Matthew 9:36 — "they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd." The song's portrait of a Creator who waits and searches fits exactly the pity Jesus feels for the crowds at the heart of the Gospel. | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
| Sending | Ablaze | "I will be a witness of Your love / I will be a witness of Your grace / From nations to nations Your children are gathered / To be called to be Your witnesses" embodies the missionary charge of Matthew 10:7-8 — "Go… make this proclamation: the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons." The recessional moment is precisely when this sending-forth language belongs. | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
12th Sunday in Ordinary Time
| Entrance | My Strength (All Around) | "I will not live in fear / O God for You are here / All around, You're all around Jesus" answers the Gospel's threefold command in Matthew 10:26, 28, 31 — "Fear no one… do not be afraid." "Your presence is my strength" also echoes Jeremiah 20:11 — "the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion." | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
| Offertory | Martyr's Love | "When they know not what they do / When all love has been lost / When their pain stands in the way / Give me a martyr's love" directly evokes Jeremiah 20:10 — "All those who were my friends are on the watch for any misstep of mine." The psalm refrain "Lord, in your great love, answer me" deepens the same persecuted-yet-trusting posture the song embodies. | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
| Communion | You've Never Failed | "I don't have to be afraid / There's no fear in love / You've never failed me / And You won't today" receives the Gospel's repeated assurance from Matthew 10:31 — "do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." The bridge's "There's no fear in love" gives the congregation a phrase to carry from the table. | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
| Sending | Glory | "Go on and shout it / From the rooftops we will sing" is a near-literal echo of Matthew 10:27 — "what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops." The song's entire structure — sharing one's story of God's faithfulness so that "somebody needs to hear it from you" — enacts the apostolic mission Jesus gives the Twelve in the Gospel. | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
13th Sunday in Ordinary Time
| Entrance | Chosen | "You chose me from the start / With a promise full of peace and full of healing / By Your life You set me free / And with Your love You broke the chains of all my slavery" mirrors the Alleluia from 1 Peter 2:9 — "You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation." The "chains of all my slavery" language also parallels Romans 6:6 — "that we might no longer be in slavery to sin." | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
| Offering | I Let Go | "Jesus I embrace the cross / I'm all in / I'm all Yours" is a direct musical setting of Matthew 10:38 — "whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me." Placed at the offertory, the song's surrender posture fits the moment of offering one's whole self alongside the gifts. | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
| Communion | Death to Life | "From death to life / Jesus You had me in mind / I know that You gave Your life / So I'd have mine" is an almost word-for-word paraphrase of Romans 6:4 — "just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life." Receiving the Eucharist as the sacrament of that new life makes this the ideal Communion song for this reading. | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
| Sending | In Your Light | "You break through the darkness / I know you're always by my side / In Your light / I'm finally seeing clear enough to find / I am seen I am known I am found" directly echoes the Alleluia from 1 Peter 2:9 — "him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." The congregation departs carrying the very language of their baptismal identity. | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
14th Sunday in Ordinary Time
| Entrance | Hosanna | "Rejoice and exult Jerusalem / Do not fear for the Lord is in our midst / Shout for joy O Israel / Our Mighty Savior has renewed us in His love" is a near-verbatim rendering of Zechariah 9:9 — "Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion, shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! See, your king shall come to you." The song's opening verse belongs at the entrance procession on this day. | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
| Offertory | Hearts To Worship | "I will bless the Lord always / His praise upon my lips / My soul makes its boast in the Lord my God / Exalt His Name" mirrors Psalm 145:1-2 — "I will extol you, O my God and King, and I will bless your name forever and ever." The bridge's petition "create in me O God a new heart that worships You" connects to Jesus' revelation to "little ones" in the Alleluia (Matt 11:25). | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
| Communion | Invitation | "Come come and rest a while / Come lay down your weary head now / Oh come come and find your rest / Find it in the heartbeat that you hear within my chest" is a musical restatement of Matthew 11:28 — "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest." There is no stronger Communion song on a day when those exact words are proclaimed from the Gospel. | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
| Sending | Send Down Your Spirit | "Lord send down Your Spirit / Let me receive Your peace / Lord send down Your wisdom / Let my trust in You increase" connects to Romans 8:11 — "the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you" — and to the Alleluia (Matt 11:25): "you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the kingdom." The petition for peace also echoes Zechariah 9:10 "he shall proclaim peace to the nations." | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
15th Sunday in Ordinary Time
| Entrance | Prepare Our Hearts | "Give us ears to hear / The Word of God who's here" directly echoes both Matthew 13:9 — "Whoever has ears ought to hear" — and the Alleluia: "The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower." No other song in the catalog maps this precisely to the central image of this Sunday's liturgy of the Word. | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
| Offertory | Against the Current | "You speak my life / Like You spoke the world / Into motion / You wake me with / The very breath / You drew into dry bones" mirrors Isaiah 55:11 — "my word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it." Both the song and the reading locate creative, unstoppable power in the divine word going forth. | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
| Communion | Hope of Heaven | "Oh I know / Though trials may come and go / You remain steady / I have the hope of heaven" and "Lord I hope / Help my unbelief" directly answer Romans 8:18 — "the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us." The song holds both groaning and confident hope in tension, exactly as Romans 8:23 does. | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
| Sending | So Good | "Who could stand against / Your unfailing faithfulness / O God of promises / I've tasted and seen who You are" echoes Psalm 65:11 — "You have crowned the year with your bounty, and your paths overflow with a rich harvest." Sending the assembly with gratitude for God's overflowing goodness mirrors the psalm's closing image of the hills and valleys shouting and singing for joy. | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
16th Sunday in Ordinary Time
| Entrance | Wideness | "There's a wideness in Your mercy never ceasing / There's a kindness in the justice You bestow" directly sets Wisdom 12:16 to music — "your might is the source of justice / your mastery over all things makes you lenient to all." The chorus's "the heart of the eternal / Is most wonderfully kind" also echoes Psalm 86:15 — "You, O LORD, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger." | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
| Offertory | Over and Over | "Over and over / Your mercy endures / Over and over / You never fail / Over and over / Your love prevails" mirrors Psalm 86:5 — "You, O LORD, are good and forgiving, abounding in kindness" — and Psalm 86:15's description of God as "slow to anger, abounding in kindness and fidelity." The repetition of "over and over" gives rhythmic expression to the psalm's repeated refrain "Lord, you are good and forgiving." | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
| Communion | Even In The Silence | "Even in the silence / You are with me / Even in the waiting / Though I can't see / You are never hiding / Your heart is always guiding me" connects to Romans 8:26-27 — "The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness… the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings." Both the song and the reading locate God's quiet, hidden action in the midst of our unknowing. | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
| Sending | In That City | "In that city / We'll know nothing but love / We'll have no need for the sun / For our lamp will be the Lamb of God" gives full eschatological voice to Matthew 13:43 — "then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father." The parable ends with that vision; the recessional carries it outward. | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
| Entrance | For Your Great Name | "Blessing glory honor and power / Be unto the Lamb / For all my days I'll sing Your praise / For Your great Name I'll sing Your praise" mirrors Psalm 119:72 — "The law of your mouth is to me more precious than thousands of gold and silver pieces" — the psalm's claim that God's word (and Name) surpasses all earthly treasure, the governing image of this Sunday's Gospel parables. | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
| Offertory | You Shine | "God I need the grace to learn surrender / Even when I'm doubting You are working / I know You are faithful till the end" sets Romans 8:28 to music — "we know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose." The bridge's "You make a way for me / I can see it" gives congregational expression to Paul's confident assurance. | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
| Communion | Satisfies | "My Jesus you're the one who satisfies / You're what my heart really wants / I don't have to keep searching / 'Cause You're right in front of me / Your presence Your heart / You're all that I need" directly embodies the pearl merchant of Matthew 13:45-46 — "when he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it." At Communion, the pearl is present; the search ends here. | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
| Sending | The Better Part | "There is need of only one thing / To be with You / At Your feet I'm finally learning / To choose the better part" captures the single-minded joy of Matthew 13:44 — "out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." The congregation departs with the kingdom-as-treasure parable reframed as a daily, joyful choice to prioritize what truly matters. | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
18th Sunday in Ordinary Time
| Entrance | Looking | "All this time I've been looking / Searching all my days / For the well that will fill my soul / For waters that make me whole / But all in vain / 'Cause I keep coming up dry / With waters that don't satisfy" mirrors Isaiah 55:2 — "Why spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy?" The assembly enters naming the very thirst that the entire liturgy — and the feeding of the 5,000 — exists to answer. | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
| Offertory | Take And Receive | "We take and receive O Lord / Gathered here at Your table / All that You are and we become what we eat / In this Eucharist feast" enacts Matthew 14:19 — "Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples." The song's offertory posture mirrors the precise gestures of the feeding miracle that prefigures every Eucharist. | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
| Communion | Come To The Feast | "You have come come to the table / You have come come to the feast / This this is My Body / This this is My Blood / My life given for you" gives Eucharistic voice to Isaiah 55:1 — "All you who are thirsty, come to the water! Come, without paying and without cost" — and to Matthew 14:20, where all who came "ate and were satisfied." The Alleluia's "one does not live on bread alone" (Matt 4:4) makes the contrast explicit: this is the bread that truly feeds. | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
| Sending | No Greater Love | "Oh how can it be that You would die for me / You rescue me over and over over and over again / There's no greater love no greater love / Than the love You show me" sets Romans 8:35, 39 to music — "What will separate us from the love of Christ?... nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." The congregation departs carrying Paul's answer as a song. | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
| Entrance | Let Me Stay Here | "You are not in the hurricane / Nor the earthquake / Nor the fire / But You come in the gentle whisper of a breeze / When my cry subsides / I hear Your heart that beats for mine / Your whisper is the sound / Oh where my soul abides / Let me stay here a while" is a direct musical setting of 1 Kings 19:11-12 — "the LORD was not in the wind… not in the earthquake… not in the fire. After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound." The congregation enters already inside the scene at Horeb. | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
| Offertory | Stand In Awe | "When I can't stand / I'll kneel / When I can't kneel / I'll lay and give You control / When I can't see / I'll follow Your voice / When I can't speak / I'll sing praise to You" mirrors Peter's journey in Matthew 14:30 — "when he saw how strong the wind was he became frightened; and, beginning to sink, he cried out, 'Lord, save me!'" — and Elijah hiding his face in his cloak at the entrance of the cave (1 Kings 19:13). Both figures collapse before God's nearness; the song makes that posture the congregation's own. | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
| Communion | Cast My Cares | "I will fix my eyes on You / I will place my hope in You / I will find my rest in You / I will cast my cares on You my God" draws directly from Peter's lesson in Matthew 14:30-31 — when he stopped fixing his eyes on Jesus he sank; at the table we receive the One Peter finally confessed: "Truly, you are the Son of God" (14:33). The Alleluia's Psalm 130:5 — "I wait for the Lord; my soul waits for his word" — finds its completion in this moment of reception. | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
| Sending | Touch Your Side | The song's second chorus — "Come and touch My side / I have always been beside you / I have always been near / Your faith is stronger than your doubt / My truth will set You free / So come and touch My side / And believe" — answers Matthew 14:31 — "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" — by speaking Jesus' reply directly over the congregation as they depart. Doubt acknowledged, but faith declared stronger: the perfect sending on this Sunday. | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
| Entrance | Holy Are You | "Worthy is the One on the throne / Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain / Holy holy / Holy holy are You / Lord God almighty / Who was Who is Who is to come / All blessing and honor / Glory and power to You Jesus" mirrors Revelation 12:10 — "Now have salvation and power come, and the Kingdom of our God and the authority of his Anointed One" — placing the assembly inside the heavenly worship scene that frames the feast from its very first reading. | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
| Offertory | My Bride | "You are mine sit beside me let me surprise you / Lock your eyes with mine my bride / And let me love you / How could I dismiss that which is of greatest importance to me / You are my priority" connects to Psalm 45:10-11 — "The queen takes her place at your right hand in gold of Ophir… so shall the king desire your beauty." Mary honored as queen and bride at the King's side is the central image of the psalm on this feast. | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
| Communion | Rise | "Take my hand / Rise from sleep / Let it go / Give me everything / You are found / You are free / I live in you / And you in me" connects directly to 1 Corinthians 15:22 — "just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life." The Assumption proclaims Mary's bodily rising as the first fruit of that promise for all the faithful; receiving the Eucharist unites us to the same risen life we celebrate in her today. | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |
| Sending | Death Is Not The End | "He says leave hell behind / Claim new life / Death is not the end / Behold the glory of the Savior" directly proclaims 1 Corinthians 15:26 — "The last enemy to be destroyed is death" — and the joy of the Magnificat: "the Almighty has done great things for me and holy is his Name" (Luke 1:49). The congregation departs carrying Mary's triumph — body and soul assumed into glory — as their own certain hope. | SongSelect | ONE LICENSE |