Living out my faith in my work

Montserrat Caballé, Soprano, Spain

February 1, 2002

Tags: The Way, Work, family My life would be meaningless without singing. This art is a gift that enables me to give unique expression to love, goodness, patriotism, and my innermost feelings at their very highest and most unselfish level. What I most enjoy is giving enjoyment to others.

Many years ago someone gave me a copy of The Way, a book of thoughts that help people to find Christ. I read: “We’ve got to be convinced that God is always near us. We live as though he were far away, in the heavens high above, and we forget that he is also continually by our side” (267). These words… encouraged me to live out my faith in my work, never to forget to pray before going on stage, to talk to God in one way or another throughout the day; to understand that my faith goes beyond the purely personal sphere.

But my life would equally be meaningless without my family, and the whole range of values connected with it. Although my work means I have to travel around all the time, I’ve always tried to find the necessary space to foster those values: faithfulness, union and love for my friends. In this regard, Pope John Paul II’s words in his Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte provide me with a lot of support: “In this way charity will necessarily become service to culture, politics, the economy and the family, so that the fundamental principles upon which depend the destiny of human beings and the future of civilization will be everywhere respected” (51).

All of that – my work and my family – is something I have tried to raise up through the practice of my faith, a faith which points towards the greatest prize and most outstanding success imaginable: the joyfulness of those who seek the Lord.