She said that singing to God for the first time led to her falling in love with God.
A song that Karen Rodriguez, a member of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Harrisburg, recorded about her love of the Lord was nominated for the inaugural Catholic Music Awards at the Vatican July 27, as her song Regálame Un Minuto was a finalist for the award of Best Song Production in Spanish.
“I came with a purpose to this world. It is to praise Him. It is to exalt Him,” Rodriguez said, a few days before she headed to Vatican City for the awards ceremony.
Rodriguez is one of two members of the Diocese of Harrisburg to be nominated for the Catholic Music Awards. Father Maximilian Mary Dean was also nominated for Best Marian Song and Best Rock Song.
Simply finding out about her status as a finalist on June 10 brought a powerful moment of surprise and incredible connection to God. She had looked online at home to see if she had received the finalist nomination, but nothing had happened.
“That day, I went to the prayer group of St. Francis of Assisi. After that, I came home. All my family, my daughters and my husband, were in the living room waiting for me. And it was a little strange, because my husband always has to go to bed early because he has an early morning job. Seeing him in the living room was like, ‘What happened?’” she said.
“My husband says, ‘Are you ready for the news I’m going to give you?’ And I’m like, ‘Okay.’ He says, ‘You’re a finalist.’ We all started screaming. I really felt like I was in shock.”
Rodriguez explained that her love of God, and her love of singing to God, began at 12 years old in her original home in Ponce, Puerto Rico.
“A friend came to my house looking for children to be part of the church choir. I knew that I had the talent to sing since I was 10 years old. But when he came and he asked me to be part, I fell in love with God,” she said.
She began dedicating her life to serving God with music. She began making music a family ministry. She received a bachelor’s degree in classical music.
More than eight years ago, Rodriguez and her family moved to Harrisburg. She said the move by far was not easy, but was God’s plan.
“We have a stronger version of our family,” she said. “He has something for us. He moved me here because He has something for me here.”
Her family truly has made Regálame Un Minuto a family affair, as her husband Carlos Torres wrote the words.
“With my voice, with my imagination, I put the music and the melody to the song. I always record my voice singing,” she said. “After that, we shared it with the producer, Angel Torres. He did all the arrangements for the song.”
Rodriguez says the song, which translates to “Give Me a Minute,” dives into how God asks for a minute from us, a minute that can be incredibly transformative in our lives.
“I know that this song touches hearts,” she said.
“The song speaks about that minute that we need from God, the need to be listened to, to be hugged, to be forgiven. When we have a relationship with God, we have a little piece of Heaven here on earth. It speaks to when it doesn’t matter how many times we fail, we don’t stop speaking to God, seeking for Him. Sometimes we feel like we are not near to God, and it’s not that way.”
Although her song did not ultimately win the award for which it was nominated, people will continue to hear Rodriguez sharing her voice in song at youth rallies, during Eucharistic processions and at Mass.
“I can say that God is using me to heal, because most of the time, people start crying. Most of the time, people say ‘Thank you, because when you sing with your music, I can feel closer to God,’” she said.
Rodriguez hints that many more songs for the Lord are coming.
“I have several songs that I have written that I am going to share with the whole world. They are songs that talk about how ‘You are my friend, You are my loved one, You are my guardian, You are my protector,’” she said.
She promises, though, that she will continue to sing to God on an even more regular basis than that, because she does it every day.
As she puts it, “I will never stop singing to Him.”
See more from Karen Rodriguez: Facebook | Instagram | Spotify | YouTube
(Photos courtesy of Karen Rodriguez. Jay Sorgi is a freelance reporter for The Witness. This interview was conducted with the assistance of Brenda Estremera-Garay as an interpreter.)
By Jay Sorgi, The Catholic Witness
