Thanks to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Catholic singer-songwriter and neurologic music therapist Danielle Savard became attuned to spiritual warfare, the Christian concept compelling believers to put on the armour of God to resist the snares of preternatural evil forces.

Savard said she experienced a “conversion of the heart” through contemplating the meditations and prayers authored by St. Ignatius, the priest and theologian who founded the Jesuit order.

“I learned how to differentiate God’s voice from my voice versus the enemy’s voice,” said the Winnipeg native. “It was realizing God's voice speaks peace, He enlightens, and it's the fruits of the spirit. As for the enemy, like St. Ignatius said, ‘how do you know if the tail of the serpent is in something?’ The symptoms of it are confusion, desolation, isolation, agitation, fear, depression and anxiety.”

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Over the past 18 months, Savard has focused on an ambitious effort, both online and in-person, to illuminate believers and non-believers about the reality of spiritual warfare.

This work culminated with the launch in the spring of 2024 of Volume 1 of her planned three-part Warfare album, a musical journey inspired by St. Ignatius’ spiritual exercises and Ephesians 6, the Biblical call to put on the "armour of God."

During the 2025 Lenten season, she debuted the Spiritual Warfare Podcast and hosted multiple parish retreats within the Winnipeg and St. Boniface archdioceses, building upon the momentum of her music project.

Warfare Vol. 1 is proving to be a particularly fruitful labour of love for Savard. On Aug. 16, the lead single “The Wilderness” was named the 2025 winner for best folk song at the Christian Creative Arts (CCA) Awards in Mississauga, Ont. Another track, “Don’t Forget,” prevailed in the inspirational/instrumental song category.

Savard said she intentionally released “The Wilderness” just before the first weekend of Lent 2024 (Feb. 17-18) to line up with the Sunday Gospel reading of Jesus being tempted in the desert by Satan. It is the composition from the album garnering the most testimonials from listeners.

“I’ve heard people say they resonate with this aspect of dual reality,” said Savard. “I designed this song as a paradox because it’s like ‘I walk among the trees. I feel the forest breeze surround me, and I feel your peace, but still, I hear you say watch, wait, be ready.'

“When I wrote this song at the beginning of the pandemic,” continued Savard, “it felt like it was just an overflow of this cry of humanity through my heart where I was like ‘Lord, walk with us. We are in this season of the unknown. Jesus, you alone know what it's like to go through the wilderness.’ ”

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Being called to be at peace yet also on guard, said Savard, is another way the Lord communicates His call for us to be both “wise as serpents and harmless as doves" (Matthew 10:16).

Savard, who also got married earlier this year, has a binder of 32 songs, 27 related to spiritual warfare. Within this collection are songs that will very likely feature in volumes II and III of Warfare, which she said will be released “on God’s timeline.”

Following the release of three singles that Savard characterized as “almost a little bit of an experiment to find my style,” she was encouraged by her producer, Murray Pulver, to unveil an album that would invite “the world to hear the heart of Danielle Savard.”

She responded by intentionally drawing musical inspiration from her prayerful conversations with Christ.

“I have been noticing that there's this trend that the deeper I go in my personal prayer life with Jesus, the richer my songs become because they're an overflow of my prayer life,” said Savard. “And they're an overflow of the experience of warfare that I've been through, and God has led me through, those hills and valleys.”

Savard’s immersive, soulful songwriting and her ongoing commitment to the St. Ignatius spiritual exercises have also helped develop her gifts from the Holy Spirit. She said she's blessed with a discernment of spirits charism.

“It’s being able to walk into a room and feel the presence of Jesus or feel, ‘oh, something's off here, we need to pray for protection,' ” said Savard. 

She also follows the Ignatian teaching of viewing the process of discernment as testing the waters. The Catholic asks the Lord if He wants something of her or not, and she examines whether or not she feels a peaceful affirmation.

Currently, Savard has her own private practice in music therapy, but during the COVID-19 pandemic she served in a nursing home. It was an occasion for her to behold spiritual warfare on an amplified scale.

“There was a heightened battlefield for people's souls at the end because I was there at the bedsides of a lot of people nearing the end of their days as a music therapist,” said Savard. “You see the rawness of faith and the battle we are in."

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She has also observed God as a healer on many occasions throughout her experiences working with individuals with developmental disabilities, seniors with Alzheimer's and clients experiencing social anxiety or depression.

Listen to “The Wilderness” on YouTube.