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Audrey Assad’s albums Fortunate Fall and Inheritance
I love making playlists and listening to certain songs during Lent. Two albums I particularly love come from Catholic singer Audrey Assad. Fun fact: Audrey Assad was my first concert. I got to see her perform at the Catholic Charismatic Center. The night was spent in praise and worship with a little time for Adoration. It was a wonderful night. Audrey Assad performed all the songs from her Fortunate Fall album.
The title of Fortunate Fall and the interludes in the album come from Exsultet, an ancient chant sung during the Easter Vigil. “O Happy Fault that gained for us so great a redeemer.” The album captures the dark, frustrating struggles that Lent often brings. It reminds us that Lent is a time of humility. Each song feels like a prayer, such as “Lead Me On,” which is based on Psalm 23. Some are actually based around actual prayers, like “I Shall Not Want,” which is based on the Litany of Humility, and “Spirit of the Living God” and “Lead Kindly Light” which are based on prayers by John Henry Newman. My favorite song from the album, however, is “You Speak,” the last song on the album. It’s a quiet piano number that invokes Mother Teresa and praises the silence that often comes during Lent. But there’s more to Lent than just suffering, silence, and prayer.
Inheritance is an equally beautiful album that combines Catholic traditional hymns with songs that reflect the needs of the Church today. If Fortunate Fall embodies the spirit of Lent’s desert, Inheritance centers more on the heart of Christ and centering ourselves back to Him. The album begins with the ancient Latin hymn “Ubi Caritas” and follows with “Holy Holy Holy,” which is basically my wake-up song. I highly recommend you watch the music video for “Be Thou My Vision” as I think it perfectly represents the journey we all take during Lent. Inheritance shows its Christ-centricity with uplifting songs such as “How Can I Keep From Singing” and “It Is Well With My Soul,” but there are also some hauntingly beautiful songs as “I Wonder as I Wander” and “Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet.”
During this Lenten journey, we will struggle. We will be frustrated. We will be tried. We will be tempted. Throughout all this, however, we need to keep our hearts centered with Christ. If you need some motivational music to get you through Lent, listen to these two albums.
