Chords & Lyrics!

A new friend in the Phillipines asked us for lyrics and chords for Sing to Jesus so they can use it in prayer. That made me think: well, why not post this for anyone out there who wants to sing in praise?!

"Like Magdalene...."

Mary Magdalene. Whose many sins were forgiven her because of her great love and sacrifice, anointing His Body for his burial in anticipation. Who dared to go to the foot of the Cross. Who searched in anguish for Him and was granted the task to be the Apostle to the Apostles. 

In his classic silent film, "King of Kings", DeMille depicted Christ casting out the seven demons from her as being delivered from the Seven Deadly Sins: Clip from the scene 

And another clip: She veils now modestly with joy. 

There is no greater gratitude than from one saved from eternal death. This was a verse from the Penitential Dance that we used to do so often at our concerts: "Simon, the one whom I forgive much loves me even more."

My worship song, "May I Receive You" was inspired by a prayer that mentions Mary Magdalene's gratitude for being delivered from evil.

"May I Receive You ROUGH DEMO"

God grant that we may be so joined to Jesus that, freed from all that clings to us, nothing can ever separate us from Him! 

Peace & Love & JOY,

Mark LaJOIE!

Here is a GIF for "Do What He Tells You to Do!"

 

 On the Bus Again!

Here are a couple of pictures from the early 80's!

You can see Joyce in the foreground reading; Mark & Chuck Trella playing guitar as they did for endless hours on so many trips....

Sharon is smiling! With Joyce, she is waiting to help; Mark & Dave are handling the box; there is Tony's drum seat in the foreground

Setting up the stage & mike stands; EVERYone helped

Outdoor concert as we did often; there is participation going on here

 Earli-EST Living Waters!

The very earliest version of Living Waters, in the first couple of years, would have looked like this. Notice Kathy Hilliard is our female singer, Danny is on his 12-string, and Jimmy, his brother, is still our drummer. We already had Mark, Mike, Chuck and Dave who would be part of the 'classic' lineup. Very soon, Tony & Denise, Kathy ("Sullie"), Greg and others will show up to complete our identity as a performance and as a family. When we'd show up, we'd empty the boxes and put them out as risers. We would have to hoist the piano to the stage, for Mike to play, in many places. Our very first concerts we did not have the dancers, but, soon, the "Rejoice" group joined us. In the first picture you see the full stage with the dancers! with Mike on piano on the right. There seems to be a pretty good crowd. Kathy is probably singing "Christ's Blood" in the third pic. You can see Mark with an early electric Fender and Danny on his 12-string.

 Want to See an Old Show?

Here is a crumpled old show list template for the "Spring & Easter" concert season from the early days. (It is Chuck's handwriting.)

Those shows were LONG! Combined with all the Sunday night practices, it was a crucible, burning our performances deep into our muscle memory; I'll bet we could still perform some of these songs right this minute if asked.

This lets you know the early covers we used to do, like "Mirror" and "Isaiah 60". You can also see that we never got recordings for some of our originals listed. We were going out every weekend, just about. Note that "Nobody Else" was always the 'encore'.

And here is a letter and some pictures from a Christmas show we did for St. Brigid's parish in Lexington. We used to do carols and the Twelve Days of Christmas with placards. EVERY Christmas we did these shows for so many years! This is a very thoughtful, heartfelt note.

Notice how Chuck and Jim were addressed in this letter, serving as our guys 'out front', booking all the shows. That let the band, dancers and drama concentrate on our practice preparation. Notice how the equipment boxes were used for risers. Be on the lookout for more memorabilia!

Peace & Love & JOY,

Mark LaJOIE!

FOUNTAIN of every Blessing!

FOUNTAIN of every Blessing!

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

Fountain of every blessing

I adore You

I love You

And with a lively sorrow for my sins,

I offer You this poor Heart of mine.

Make me humble, patient, pure and wholly obedient to Your will.

Grant, good Jesus, that I may live in and for You.

Protect me in danger,

Comfort me in affliction,

Give me health in mind and body,

Your assistance in my temporal needs,

Your blessing on all that I do,

And the grace of a holy death in You.

Amen.

"Make Me Free" on Spotify

*this is a reprint of an older blog posting! The phrase "a love for us that never ends" is from the "Anna Post Video"

When I was 15 after the first exhilaration of my conversion experience and seeing miracles and so forth, one day it all came crashing down to earth. I began to falter again under the weaknesses and burdens I had, feeling all bound up with all the negative patterns that had built up for so long. I did what I had the first time: I fell to my knees, admitted my helplessness and turned to the Lord in trust. “Make me free”, was the phrase that kept recurring. I picked up a prayer card and began to recite the prayer there. It was the Sacred Heart Prayer from the Sacred Heart Fathers from Racine, Wisconsin [the same ones who used to give out those metal Sacred Heart Auto League car stickers]. I had been saying the prayer every day, but now I prayed it with desperation and determined to DO something to make my trust REAL; I would do the First Friday Devotion thing and to go to Mass every day. Here is part of the prayer:

“Most Sacred Heart of Jesus…I love you…I offer you this poor heart of mine, make me humble, patient, pure and wholly obedient to your will…grant me the grace of a holy death..”

I had prayed it before, but now with poverty and desperation. And then it happened: a song started coming to me, a verse and a chorus, five times. (Eventually we cut this to four verses for performance.)  Several of the verses were reminders that we need to open up to others and see more than ourselves, something I sorely needed [and still need!] to do. It truly was a freeing experience. I should just let a loving Heart look after me and concentrate on living and loving.

A few years later after I’d done some more trusting and ministering, the final rousing coda came to me in a rush once. It’s okay to pray for a holy death, but that comes by LIVING with all you’ve got.

The amusing genesis of the song actually came before what I began with here. I went to a big Charismatic conference and everyone was engaged in praise and I was really throwing myself into it – it was so freeing! My eyes were closed and I was concentrating intently when I began to notice people laughing. As I opened up my eyes and looked around I noticed everyone else was sitting down looking at me. HOW EMBARASSING! (I seem to have a special talent for embarassing myself!) I was red-faced and crestfallen as I sat down; it’s always been one of my biggest fears, not knowing the etiquette of situations, afraid of offending or making a fool of myself. The very kind speaker said something like “Thank the Lord for freedom.”

Now, after this, a man I trusted deeply came up to me – I’m embarassed to say I’ve forgotten who it is!- and said simply, “The Lord wants to give you a song on freedom”. Now, I know I trusted the guy, because that’s the kind of thing you would have to! With a very simple reaction I ran to the Chapel, knelt down, furrowed my brow intensely and waited expectantly. I imagine I came out of my crouch once in a while to sneak a peek skyward to see if anything was dropping down directly upon me. When nothing happened, I chalked it up to a mistake and forgot all about it. It was maybe a couple of months after this that I got “Make Me Free”, and I recalled that incident. I don’t know if it was the suggestion of it that planted the idea; that’s certainly possible. But this song is just so darn good, I’m inclined to believe maybe the guy did have a genuine inspiration.

The insight it gives is crucial to everyone. We’ve got to let God be God and just learn to love and trust! That’s pretty simple; it’s not always easy. Lord, help us to be free by living in your Love!

Peace & the Freedom of Agape Love
Mark Lajoie

P.S. The chef at Oblates was Roy McKay; I did the pots and pans and worked for him. This was his favorite song and I did it just for him a few times and he was always pulling me out to do it for someone. He had real insight into people and their motives. I grew to love old time country in his kitchen. ( And I'll never forget his green mashed potatoes on St. Patty's!) He has since passed on, but his example and memory is a treasured one for me and many who knew him.