The Mexican priest José Herrera, originally from La Paz, Baja California Sur, presented a renewed version of his song “You have called me”, which seeks to convey the deep sense of the vocation and become an instrument for evangelization.
In an interview with ACI Press, he indicated that since he entered the Seminary in 2011, he has combined his pastoral work with the musical composition. He recalled that, in 2016, he decided to share his songs through YouTube, adding to the community of digital evangelizers with themes such as “Take my fears”, “I was never me”, “God before me” and, more recently, “here I am, Lord.”
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On August 1, “you have called me”, with the collaboration of the renowned Catholic musicians Eloy Baeza and Azeneth González, both Mexicans, and Fr. Jamed Pacheco, originally from Panama.
A song born from vocational experience
Fr. José shared that “You have called me” was the second song he composed in 2011 when he entered the Diocesan Seminary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in the Diocese of La Paz. The piece was first launched in 2017, after winning a vocational singing contest, and in this new production seeks to give it a new impulse.
In it, said the priest, expresses that the experience that supports all vocation “is the mercy of God: his forgiveness that drives us to a commitment, to an answer, to a mission.”
This song has accompanied different stages of his life: his entry to the seminar, his years of study and, now, his priestly ministry. As he pointed out, during this time he has understood that the so -called “is the response to the aid that we all shout. We live confused, lost, and God seeks to connect with us to fill our life of meaning.”
Father José found in art a privileged environment to “convey Jesus’ message, and music is a beautiful way to do so.” He confessed that his taste for composing is born of “the intention of evangelizing.”
Finally, he stressed that the central message of the song is to remember that “we are all called. God has the initiative to approach, forgive us and send us.” And, as he says in the letter: “From your grace an instrument I want to be, an envoy, preacher of your love …”.
Diego López Colín
I am a graduate of journalism at the Carlos Septién García school with experience of religious institutional communication. Since 2016 I write for digital media and, since 2018, I report the most important news about the Catholic event in Mexico for the Ewtn news channel. ACI Press correspondent in Mexico since 2023.