In the midst of the pandemic crisis, the seminarians of the International Ecclesiastical College Sedes Sapientiae wanted to unite their voices in a song of praise to the Lord. The chosen song "Somos el Pueblo que te ama", composed by Junior Cabrera, director of the Catholic group Alfareros, was sung in more than 13 different languages by the seminarians. Jacobo Lama, promoter of this initiative, tells us how this idea came about.
Jacobo Lama is a seminarian from Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) who will be 32 years old next April. He will soon be ordained as a deacon. After studying theology for three years at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, he is now in Santo Domingo, collaborating with the archbishop in the curia and also with the pastor of a parish in the outskirts.
Your bishop Francisco Ozoria AcostaThe archbishop of Santo Domingo was the one who sent him to study in Rome and subsequently called him last July to return to his country. Santo Domingo was the first diocese of America; therefore, the bishop is also the Primate of America.
But Jacobo Lama's great hobby is singing. "God gave me the gift of music and singing.. I learned to play piano and guitar, and this would lead me to become part of the choir until I became a director, and then also a leader in the youth groups," he says.
His love for music is what prompted him to compose a beautiful video clip before returning to his country. To give hope in times of coronavirus, the seminarians of the International Ecclesiastical College Sedes Sapientiae wanted to unite their voices in a song of praise to the Lord, magnifying His name from East to West, among all nations, as the prophet says, (cf. Malachi 1:11).
Within the atmosphere of study and formation, but also of family at Sedes Sapientiae, with a fixed schedule of work, assignments and moments dedicated to prayer that set the tone every day, a new idea arose. With the desire to make the most of the time, The Seminary choir, together with other seminarians and priests, thought of recording a song that would carry a message of hope and consolation and that at the same time would be a praise to God.
"God gave me the gift of music and singing that I want to put at the service of evangelization."
"The people who love you" was the video sung in 13 languages, by the seminarians of the International Ecclesiastical College Sedes Sapientiae, which was posted on the YouTube channel of Alfareros, a Catholic group from Latin America that has just celebrated its 25 years of service to evangelization.
With regard to this initiative, the seminarians expressed themselves in the following way: "With this song of many hearts praying and singing to the Lord in the heart of Rome and the Church, we seek to abandon ourselves into the hands of the Lord so that, with his grace, these humanly difficult circumstances may mean, for each one of us an interior growth in faith, hope and charity."
It was then that some Latin American students proposed the idea of recording the song in several languages. The People Who Love You of the group Alfareros, a Catholic group that celebrated 25 years of service to God through music last year.
The group's director, Junior Cabrera, voluntarily agreed to collaborate with this initiative, providing the necessary material. This version was recorded in more than 13 different languages, such as Spanish, English, French, Portuguese and Italian. Also Galician, Croatian, Vietnamese, Malayalam, Filipino, Arabic, Swahili and even the indigenous Zapotec language.
"With this song of many hearts that pray and sing to the Lord in the heart of Rome and the Church, we try to abandon ourselves into the Lord's hands so that, with his grace, these humanly difficult circumstances may mean, for each one of us, an interior growth in faith, hope and charity," the seminarians affirmed.
The video already has almost 6,000 views. You can watch it here.
These were the seminarians who were part of the video clip: Sem. Laerth Ferreira - Brazil, Sem. Domingos Jorge - Angola, Dcn. Kingsley Omenyi - Nigeria, Don Pablo Gefaell - Spain, Shr. Jacobo Lama - Dominican Republic, Shr. Marko Gerendaj - Croatia, Shr. Alejandro Rangel - Venezuela, Sem. Ítalo Alcívar - Ecuador, Sem. Lonnys Lares - Venezuela, Fr. Quân Nguyên - Vietnam, Shem. Jeril Jose - India, Shem. Jershom Colico - Philippines, Shem. Dean Spiller - South Africa, Sem. Emmanuel Marfo - Ghana, Sem. Banele Ndlovu - South Africa, Shr. Mark Tipoi - South Sudan, Shr. Juan Maldonado - Mexico, Dr. Michael Lusato - Tanzania, Shr. Khoa Pham - Vietnam, Shr. Patrick Anasenchor - Ghana, Fr. Francisco Vinumo - Angola, Fr. Brandon de León - Guatemala
This musical initiative has encouraged Jacobo Lama to record another song: "Mi mayor acierto", composed 20 years ago by another priest for the vocation day held in Santo Domingo. The lyrics tell the story of a vocation that detaches itself from everything and says yes to the Lord. "This song is reaching many people, it touches hearts and makes you think about what God wants from you," Jacobo explains.
The video clip can be heard here:
"In St. Dominic the number of baptized has grown but vocations to the priesthood or religious life have decreased."
For Jacobo Lama, WYD in Madrid in 2011 with Pope Benedict XVI was a before and after. "After WYD I was no longer the same. My impression of the Church changed radically. I started going to Mass every day after work," he says. In the group of young people was a girl who later became a Carmelite. In the photo she is with her dear sister Sister Maria Lucia, celebrating the feast day of St. Therese of the Child Jesus. "Let us pray for vocations!" she encourages.
The Dominican Republic is the fastest growing economy in Latin America. Its Haitian neighbors, on the other hand, are the poorest. "The roots of our homeland are rooted in Spanish culture, with a strong Catholic influence," says Jacobo.
The concerns of his nation are not very different from those of the Western world: individualism and secularization, as well as the decline of young people in the practice of piety.
"The number of baptized has grown, but vocations to the priesthood and religious life have decreased," he says. The seminary of Santo Domingo had a total of 161 seminarians in 2016 and in 2020 only 64. In addition, with the pandemic, many faithful have stopped attending mass and follow it from their homes.
Another challenge for the Dominican Church is to give reasons why the abortion law should not be legalized, since it is one of the few countries in Latin America (along with El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras) where abortion is prohibited under any circumstances.
The only constitution that establishes in an armored form the right to life from conception to death is the Dominican constitution in its article 37.
"The Catholic Church is very much listened to in our country. Within the government there are many Christians who take faith into account in their policies. Without going any further, the president of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, is Catholic," he says.
However, 57% of the population is Catholic, 23% are Protestant, 25% are Evangelical Christians and 12% declare themselves to have no religion.
Jacobo Lama has returned to his country with an integral formation provided in Rome, thanks to the generosity of many benefactors. He will now put all his knowledge at the service of evangelization in the Dominican Republic.
