The love of my life is Jesus Christ, not music. Music is a tool for preaching the gospel.
We have featured a number of Catholic Hip-Hop artists here at Cecilia,but today’s artist is a bit different than the rest: Álvaro Vega – who goes under the name Communion – is a seminarian.
A rapper now for fifteen years, Álvaro did not always have such religious lyrics. He went through a conversion in 2008 after reading The Imitation of Christ by Tomás de Kempis. He was struck by the call to take up his cross and follow Christ, and soon after that call would further manifest itself in a call to the priesthood.
A Rapper and a Seminarian
Like a lot of the other priests and religious musicianswe have featured here at Cecilia, when Álvaro felt the call to the priesthood, he said goodbye to his music. “The calling to serve the Lord in my vocation became stronger than my love for making music,” said Álvaro. “It’s like how Jesus said in the gospel: You have to be able to give everything to follow him.”
About a year into seminary he got back into music, recording the song “Creo in Dios.” He makes music to serve the Lord, but he’s quick to say where his priorities lie: “As much as I like music and am passionate about it, I love the Lord more. If tomorrow He says, ‘Álvaro, lay it down.’ I’ll do it. I’ll give it up, because the love of my life is Jesus Christ, not music. Music is a tool for preaching the gospel.”
Smile
The song featured today – “Smile” – came to the young seminarian in a dream. The melody came to him clearly and he was left with one word: Smile. “I see it as divine inspiration,” he says. “The message of the song is this: No matter what we go through in life, the trials and tribulations, we can always be joyful, because Christ is with us.”
You can find Communion on iTunesand Facebook.
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Libby Reichert
And today we celebrate...