From the recording Army of Love
“Army of Love” is a powerful neo-folk, spiritual Americana ballad inspired by a true pilgrimage during Craig Hendricks’ deployment to Kosovo. What began as a military journey to honor Mother Teresa became something far deeper: a sacred procession of thousands of soldiers from many nations walking together into a small, ancient village, singing Ave Maria as one voice, united not by politics or power but by devotion, peace, and love.
Blending cinematic folk storytelling, country soul, soaring symphonic textures, and sacred choral elements, Army of Love tells the story of a weary soldier transformed into a pilgrim, carried by communal song, maternal grace, and a moment of profound spiritual encounter at the feet of Mother Mary.
At its heart, this song is about the power of love to transcend division, the healing that comes when burdens are laid down, and the sacred truth that there is a force greater than war, greater than nations, and greater than human struggle.
Army of Love is a song of pilgrimage, surrender, devotion, and remembrance, a musical journey into the transforming power of grace, where the only weapon is love.
Lyrics
Army of Love
[Verse 1]
I was a soldier in Kosovo,
boots on broken stone,
carrying the weight of a weary year
so far away from home.
Orders on my shoulders,
dust upon my skin,
trying to keep the peace outside
while war still lived within.
Word came down one Sunday morn,
through Chaplains dressed in grace,
there’s a little village in the hills
and a holy gathering place.
Mother Teresa’s memory
was calling hearts to come,
and buses filled with souls like mine
beneath the Balkan sun.
[Verse 2]
Road was far too narrow
for the convoy rolling in,
so we parked a thousand miles from peace
with all our flags and skin.
And over hills we started walking,
boots on gravel roads,
soldiers from a hundred lands
beneath each other’s load.
And when we reached that little road
that led into the town,
we stopped and gathered all as one
before the final ground.
An army stood in silence there,
no rifles raised above,
an army armed with nothing
but devotion, faith, and love.
[Chorus]
Oh Ave Maria…
rose upon the wind,
voices from a thousand souls
singing us back again.
No one knew the language,
but everybody knew the song,
like Heaven taught our hearts the words
we’d carried all along.
Oh Mother Mary…
open arms above,
lead this marching world of men
into the army of love.
[Verse 3]
Flags were flying softly
like prayers against the sky,
colors of a thousand tribes
where old divisions die.
And down into that holy place
we sang like one great stream,
a conquering army entering
a city made of dream.
The village seemed to welcome us,
the Cathedral seemed to know,
the stones themselves were breathing
with a light from long ago.
And old women and children
pressed together in the song,
moving toward the Mother’s feet
where every soul belonged.
[Pre-Chorus]
I had felt her once before in prayer
back home across the sea,
a kiss of grace upon my soul
that no one else could see…
And now the years had carried me
through war and dust and pain,
to stand before the Mother there
and feel that love again…
[Chorus]
Oh Ave Maria…
rose upon the wind,
voices from a thousand souls
singing us back again.
No one knew the language,
but everybody knew the song,
like Heaven taught our hearts the words
we’d carried all along.
Oh Mother Mary…
open arms above,
lead this marching world of men
into the army of love.
[Bridge] (Symphonic build / spoken-sung)
And the grandmothers pushed me forward,
laughing with their holy hands,
little saints in wrinkled faces
moving me where grace had planned…
And there beneath her open arms,
at the feet of love divine,
I bent down low and kissed her toes
with tears that were not mine…
No debt… no bargain…
no prayer to earn…
just love returning love…
[Final Chorus] (Big orchestral lift)
Oh Ave Maria…
echo through the years,
wash away the battlefields,
wash away the tears.
No army ever conquered
what love can overcome,
a thousand hearts in one great song,
a thousand souls made one.
Oh Mother Mary…
arms open above,
take this weary child of war
into the army of love.
[Outro] (quiet folk ending)
And the crowd carried me onward…
back out into the day…
but something in my weary heart
had been washed clean away.
For there are roads through war and sorrow
that lead where angels move…
and I marched that day through Kosovo…
in the army of love…
Ave Maria…
Ave Maria…