- Lauretta Brown (OSV News)
The psalms may be a part of the Mass that many Catholics overlook. But there are times in life when the psalms are imbued with new meaning. It's when we walk with the Lord through hardship and pain, trying to maintain hope. Here is the story of Francesca LaRosa.
LaRosa always loved to sing as a child, and began singing at Mass with her father at age 9. As she became more involved in music ministry, she began adapting the responsorial psalms into her own musical arrangements.
The first time she composed music for a psalm, as a teenager, she was encouraged by her mother. "I was able to listen and find the melodies, and I saw the Scriptures in a different way. It was like I could see the melody come off the page," she recalls.
She eventually became music director of her home parish, St. Barnabas Catholic Church in Indianapolis, before leaving the position to pursue her own music career.
Although he initially thought he would pursue contemporary Christian music, in 2020 he discovered that "God had really led me back to the Psalms."
Infertility, "a heavy cross to bear".
"I was married and suffering from infertility, and I was asking God, 'Why is this happening? Why can't we have children?' It's a very heavy cross to bear in the midst of a pandemic. I was very heartbroken," she recounts. "As I was having this conversation with God, I accidentally tripped over the nightstand as I was leaving the room, and my Bible fell on the floor. I opened it to see what page it was on, and it was in the Psalms."
I asked God if He wanted me to focus on the psalms in His music, and then "felt an overwhelming sense of peace." Consequently, he decided to embark on a "psalm journey." recording all the psalmsHe has also been selling his arrangements on his website.
Although she incorporated them into her music with the intention of helping other singers, she discovered at the same time that the psalms provided comfort in her infertility process.
Surgery for endometriosis
"The day after I finished recording my last psalm, I was operated on by a doctor from Napro and discovered that I had a chronic disease called endometriosis, which she was able to completely remove," she explained. "Right after the surgery, I was cured and blessed with a son. Two weeks later, we found out we were expecting a baby."
LaRosa's work with the psalms also ended up reaching a wide audience and generating unexpected connections. Her videos caught the attention of Catholic composer Tom Booth, who put her in touch with Catholic musician Sarah Hart, who became her mentor and friend.
While still struggling with infertility and in the midst of recording the Psalms, LaRosa collaborated with Hart to set the 'Magnificat' to music for her song 'My Soul Proclaims'.
"A very emotional moment."
"We opened Luke 1 and it was a very emotional moment to read Luke 1 as two women, and to read the story of Mary and Elizabeth. St. Elizabeth has been a very important person in my life because of my experience with infertility," LaRosa noted. "I really wrote it from the perspective of someone who couldn't have children."
"Singing that my soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, singing Mary's words and her saying, 'Holy, holy is his name,' brought me a lot of healing in my infertility journey writing that with Sarah in that desert season," he said.
They are expecting a child, and they release the song
She released the song just after she and her husband, David, found out they were expecting a child. She talked about the emotional moment when she heard the song the day after finding out. "That song filled the walls of my house, which had witnessed my broken history," she said. "And now, this song means something very different to me, now that I hear Mary's words while pregnant myself. I was overwhelmed with emotion."
He offered "a prayer of praise to God".
The video clip for the song, recorded shortly after discovering she was pregnant, shows her walking down the center aisle of a local church, offering her "own prayer of praise to God." She said she had real tears of gratitude for being "with my child in worship, walking toward Jesus."
LaRosa found out about the Catholic Music Awards through one of her followers and her husband submitted her music - just to see what would happen.
After receiving an invitation to attend the awards ceremony, she and her husband were unsure at first, as she knew she would be newly delivered at the time. But they decided they could attend in Rome when her parents and in-laws offered to accompany them and help with the baby. They formed a special family trip to Rome during the Jubilee Year of Hope.
The baby was born one month before the awards ceremony
Their daughter, Gabriella, was born just over a month before the awards ceremony and was named in honor of the angel Gabriel and the feast of the Annunciation.
The delivery and postpartum went very well and they even got Gabriella's passport and birth certificate in time for the trip, "by the grace of God," LaRosa said.
She expressed her gratitude for her personal journey by singing 'My Soul Proclaims', and then being invited to perform it in Rome.
"It came full circle."
"I had just had my daughter five weeks before I sang it in Rome," she said. "It came full circle from when I sang it in the music video while I was a week pregnant, to when I sang it in Rome five weeks after giving birth and my daughter was there with me."
"When I was announced as the best new singer, I almost fell on the floor," she said, "I feel so unworthy of it all and I'm so grateful for every moment...".
Seeing Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, at the Angelus was also an incredible experience, she said, and little Gabriella received his blessing from afar in St. Peter's Square.
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Lauretta Brown is culture editor of OSV News. Follow her on X @LaurettaBrown6.
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This report was originally published in OSV News. You can consult it here.
