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“Music is a big factor in my vocation. It helps me a lot especially with the liturgical activities,” Kenneth Rey Parsad, 22, says. He’s the seminarian who shot to social media fame, after singing the responsorial psalm during the Friday mass presided by Pope Francis.
He discovered his talent for music when he was in Grade 6, around the same time he entered the seminary. “My mother also sings, so maybe I got it from her,” Ken says.
A big music fan, he enjoys the music of Ed Sheeran and Jason Mraz. He likes the guitar more than the piano and says that “when I feel lonely, or get depressed, I just get my guitar and sing.”
For him, music is also a form of prayer. “When you sing well, you pray twice,” Kenneth says, citing a quote popularly attributed to St. Agustin.
The young seminarian still has three years to go before he can become a full-fledged priest. “I’m just open to his grace, to God’s will. I think if you don’t do the will of God, you also won’t be successful.”
How does he know it’s God’s will? “If you’re happy,” Ken says. “You really have to look into yourself and live a life of discernment. It could be tiring but if you’re at peace with God — don’t you wonder why the Pope is still so full of energy at his age? It’s because of his deep relationship with God. The Lord sustains him. I just wish I could be like that.”
Here, Kenneth sings “Lord I need you,” the song by Matt Maher for the World Youth Day in 2013.
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