I'm very fond of our music minister at Church. He takes his ministry seriously, and obviously chooses the music based on the readings of the day.
That said, he has an occasional tendency to bring some rather eclectic songs into the liturgy.
Most of the time, he sticks to pretty run of the mill Praise and Worship or classic hymns. "Amazing Grace", "The Summons", "Marvelous Light", etc. Sometimes a more flamboyant entry like "Shine, Jesus Shine" will pop up. And, once in a great while, there'll be a country gospel or remastered rock hit (the re-written, Christian version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" during the communion meditation elected a few bemused giggles from me on Easter last year).
One of the unorthodox songs a couple months ago was "One Day at a Time" by Marijohn Wilkin, a successful country western singer, written in 1975.
One day at a time sweet Jesus/ that's all I'm asking from you
Give me the strength to do everyday /what I have to do
Yesterday's gone/ sweet Jesus /and tomorrow may never be mine
So for my sake/ teach me to take/ one day at a time.
It got stuck in my head. I was humming it for days. I finally had to look it up and learn it so I could move on.
It's honestly not a bad song to sing while doing housework or dealing with the baby getting into the toilet paper and unrolling it all...again. As I sang it again and again, I began to realize it sounded similar to the prayer written by St. Faustina I have posted next to my bathroom mirror.
When I look into the future, I am frightened, but why plunge into the future? Only the present moment is precious to me, as the future may never enter my soul at all.
It is no longer in my power, to change, correct or add to the past; For neither sages nor prophets could do that. And so, what the past has embraced I must entrust to God.
O present moment, you belong to me, whole and entire. I desire to use you as best I can. And although I am weak and small, you grant me the grace of your omnipotence.
And so, trusting in Your mercy, I walk through life like a little child, offering You each day this heart burning with love for Your greater glory.
More words, but pretty much the same sentiment.
I find it interesting that a Baptist raised country western singer and a Catholic religious mystic both felt the need to compose something expressing the need for daily grace and living day to day. That it was something central and important to both of them.
Something I find myself thinking more and more about is true ecumenism with Protestant Christians. Not denying or even minimizing the differences between our traditions and theology (which there are, and some of them are pretty big), but celebrating and working together on the areas we have in common.
I've got another piece in the works talking about some of the differences between Catholic and popular Evangelical Protestant theology. Those differences are worth talking about and wrestling with, especially as they apply to actually living out the faith. We don't need to minimize them, and apologetics conversations and even debates (so long as they're carried out with mutual respect and charity) still need to happen.
But I think recognizing and praising God for the ways He's worked and brought souls to Himself in both, the areas they overlap, are worthy of recognition and wrestling with too. Loving Jesus has never been easy, and we all need encouragement to keep at it, whether we go to a mass or a service on Sunday mornings. Being able to celebrate with one another, and share things that work with one another, or ways of expressing the same truths, is important for that.
So yeah, I blare "one day at a time" on my phone sometimes. To be honest, singing it at the top of my lungs in a faux twang just rolls off the tongue easier than " you grant me the grace of your omnipotence" muttered under my breath or said seriously. Ease of use matters a lot in day to day life, and it's nice to have an abbreviated version.
Hopefully I can share some of my tradition with a Protestant friend that they find helpful or edifying at some point, and return the favor.
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