This week I’m back home for Thanksgiving, so I figured it’d be the perfect time for me to give a little background on how I got into music ministry and why it’s so important to me.

One of my earliest singing memories was for the Christmas Eve Children’s Mass at my home parish when I was six years old. I was part of the children’s choir for that Mass, and the music director, Leo, gave me a solo for the Communion song: Silent Night. He saw something special in me then, both musically and personally, and I really would not be where I am now without him. It was around this time that my dad started volunteering at my church with handling the A/V. My brother and I would sit back there with him and help him out too. Because of this, we got to be closer with the members of the band for the Mass we went to. I fell in love with the music and with the people playing it. I was learning all the songs by heart and remembering who sang what solos for which. I saw what made each band member unique and the role each of them had to play for different songs.

I had a sweet spot for each of them, but I especially looked up to a select few. I became more and more attached to Leo, and he certainly became more attached to me—dubbing me his Rosita. Over the years, he became someone I learned a lot from spiritually, and I knew he would have my back no matter what. I also really admired our pianist/assistant music director, Dylane. She was incredibly talented, very sweet, and she helped me out a lot once I got to the point where I was cantoring the Christmas Eve Children’s Mass. I also became enamored with one of the members of the choir, Theresa. She had the most gorgeous voice, the most beautiful smile, and the most loving heart.

But when I was 12 years old, Leo, Dylane, and Theresa all left the parish in the span of about six months. I was absolutely heartbroken. If it wasn’t clear to me before how much of an impact they had all had on my life up to that point, it was certainly clear then. This was around the time when I fell more in love with Christian music in general, and I began searching for songs besides the ones that played on the radio. I found so many that helped me through this difficult time. And that’s when I started thinking I wanted to pursue a career related to music—although I wasn’t quite thinking music minister yet.

Leo ended up coming back to our parish after a little over a year (and he’s still the music director there now!) Dylane and Theresa didn’t come back, but my relationship with both of them continued in other ways. I ended up taking private piano lessons with Dylane for about a year, and Theresa… I’ve been taking voice lessons with her for over four and a half years at this point, and she’s become someone who really exemplifies the role of spiritual mother to me. A few months after Leo came back, I ended up officially joining the choir for the 10:30 Mass. That’s a long story in and of itself, so I might have to come back to it in a future blog post. But since then, the members of the band have become my family. Love of music has been in me since the beginning. It was inevitable that it would become the way that I worship and feel closest in my relationship with God. But the people… the people are what got me into music ministry.

I think that’s how I knew that this is what I wanted to do for a living. Music ministry is what I have the strongest passion for—praising God through song while being part of a community of people that wants to do the same. And being the one to foster that community, to lead and guide them? I’ve had the privilege of doing so for the past few months at Saint Leo, and it has been so incredibly fulfilling. I can’t wait to keep learning through this experience so that I can be the best music minister I can be.