Recently, the Saint Paul the Apostle Church choir in New York City had the exciting opportunity to perform an original song called “Love More” at Pope Leo XIV’s general audience. Father Dave lives and serves at Saint Paul the Apostle, and he discusses the profound moment with the song’s composer, J. Oconer Navarro.
Navarro is Associate Director of Music and Composer-in-Residence at the Church of Saint Paul the Apostle, as well as an Associate Professor at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He discusses how his faith first dovetailed with his musical gifts. “I was at a [young adult] retreat with Father Steven Bell,” Navarro begins. “As we always say, as music ministers, ‘when you sing, you pray twice.’ I’ve always kind of understood that, but in terms of my writing, Father Steven really illuminated for me that God was a collaborator of mine. He said, ‘Don’t you know that God’s collaborating with you when you’re writing music?’ I had never thought about it that way.”
LISTEN: Andrea Bocelli on the Faith Influence Behind His Music
“People always ask, where does the music come from, in terms of the inspiration and creativity?” he continues. “I don’t really have an answer for that, but when I come to understand it spiritually, perhaps this was the conversation I was having with God. The way he was speaking to me was through music, it just allowed it all to come out very easily.”
The choir’s performance was part of a pilgrimage to Italy, and Navarro reflects on composing a song specifically for the trip. “I was tasked to write something for and inspired by Pope Leo, whatever that meant to me, not knowing if we would ever actually perform it [for him]. Even when we got to the audience, in our minds, we were going to be in the middle of the crowd. If he happened to pass by us, if we were in an area where he could hear us, we would try to sing a little bit for him,” he recalls.
“We were escorted to an area with some seats, and we were all very excited that we were very close. Then they had us turn around, and we thought, ‘Oh no, we’re getting moved somewhere else,’” Navarro continues. “Then we got escorted even closer, all the way up to the front steps, where there was a microphone, and exactly 46 seats…That moment is when it started to hit me that maybe he’s really going to hear this song.”
Navarro notes how “Love More” contains Pope Leo’s own phrases from his first appearance on the papal balcony and homily. “I just wanted to highlight his message of love, unity, and peace. He used this beautiful language about when they were in the conclave, that the Holy Spirit was working with them all as musical instruments. That really stuck out to me, obviously, as a musician,” Navarro says. “I’ve heard he plays piano, and he loves music, and he often speaks about musical language and harmony in the musical and spiritual way. When I saw the words ‘loving more’ in that translation that I read, I knew right away that that would be the title of this song.”
LISTEN: A Joyful Noise: Celebrating St. Cecilia’s Feast Day with Singer Francesca LaRosa
After playing the song for Father Dave’s radio audience, Navarro reflects, “I felt such a sense of calm, actually, when it was happening; I thought I would just be nervous. Maybe it was better that we didn’t know [we would be performing]…When we first started walking, I was like, ‘This can’t be real. We’re going up to the front, and you’re the Pope.’”
Navarro describes the dynamic between composing a song and having a choir perform it. “You give up your music to someone else, to minister to everyone else; they have such ownership over it. To just highlight those words [of the Pope] was such a special thing,” he concludes.
