‘If you love the Lord, you can’t help but sing’
Corbin Hubbell, social media coordinator for the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln, recently interviewed Donna Cori Gibson for the Southern Nebraska Register. Cori is a Catholic singer, songwriter, and speaker. She gave the keynote address during the LDCCW biennial convention in Lincoln April 26-27, and led song and prayer throughout the event.
Below is an edited transcript of the interview. Watch the full interview on the diocesan YouTube channel, @CatholicDioceseofLincoln.
Corbin Hubbell, Southern Nebraska Register: Welcome, Donna.
Donna Cori Gibson: Thanks for having me. Always great to be back in Nebraska, the wide open spaces, I love it.
SNR: You said you started singing when you were 9 years old?
Gibson: Nine years old, in elementary school. I’m Italian. All Italians can sing. And so I just gravitated toward music. And I could do it. So they gave me solos. And they entered me into competitions with the State Fair and things like that. So I would win some ribbons and I got a big head.
And so I wanted to be rich and famous... I moved to New York to become rich and famous. I left a full scholarship in the University of Miami school of music because I was getting “old.” And I didn’t want to teach. So I moved to New York until I didn’t want to be famous anymore. And I’m like, ‘Lord, all I know how to do is music ever since I was a kid. So what do I do now?’ And I prayed for a fork in the road. And I got the inspiration to sing prayers.
I’m a lay Carmelite, which is a charism of contemplation. So I really just like to stay home, be quiet, say my prayers quietly. But how do you reconcile that with singing and performing? And so I guess you sing prayers. So I put a couple of my favorite prayers to music.
And as I was pushing my first little collection, some coordinator of a Marian conference in Pittsburgh asked me, “Can you sing the rosary?”... I’m taught to always say yes, and then figure it out later. So I said yes.
I recorded it really fast in the hallway of my house… I did it the old fashioned way… I was in business because of Our Lady. So I called her my pushy Jewish mother in heaven. I had decided I wasn’t going to sing the rosary, but she made me.
SNR: Were there any moments in that whole process where you might have had doubts or worries? And did you turn to prayer? How did the Lord have a hand in that?
Gibson: Well, when I was in New York, I used to think that if I didn’t get a record deal that I was going to be a bag lady. That those were the only choices. But I ended up getting married... I went to a Marian conference… [and] there was a girl there who sang the guardian angel prayer. And I thought, ‘I can do that.’ And the lady I was with bought her music just for that prayer, and ding, ding, ding! I’ll sing prayers! …
But the Lord made a way and so it was just something that started small. No, there was no doubt it was easy, though. It was all easy. All I had to do was be obedient to the moment and do the next right thing… choose to sit at his feet. And just be with Him and love Him every day. Because that’s the one thing necessary. And from that, then we can go and serve with His mind and His intent and His purpose and not our own strength. …
And so I want to encourage these ladies, if you don’t have the desire to choose the better part, to sit at Jesus’s feet every day, just be with Him. Be quiet. You don’t have to say stuff. Mary, at his feet, was just quiet. Then ask God to give you greater desires for Him so that you will hand over your will because Mary chose the better part.
We have to choose to do it. And it’s not hard. It’s a very simple thing, but it’s not easy. You have to rearrange your schedule, you have to say no to things. So that makes it difficult. But it’s a simple thing. Just sit at his feet, make time for prayer and meet him.
SNR: St. Augustine says, “Only the lover sings” and I think that’s such a beautiful connection to what you do and your ministry. How do you think sung prayer has influenced your life? And how have you seen others either moved or changed or inspired by your work?
Gibson: I like that. I had never heard that saying. And I guess that’s why I say I can identify with that.
...When I sing, and people are listening, to answer your question, I’ve had (listeners) say, “you sing it like I feel it.’ So they’re all lovers at heart too, they love the Lord, but they just don’t have the voice. They would just love to transcend this time and space. And music does that. It’s like another language….
I love being able to offer that second language to people’s prayers of the great saints that they supply the words in Scripture, I mean, I could never top their words. So I just rearranged them and made them sing. Some of them already rhyme or in order that would sing, while like Thérèse of Lisieux, she was a poet so that was easy to put to music… And so you just arrange it and make it sing.…
My favorite (Psalm) is Psalm 127, where it says, ‘you who toil for the bread, you weak, getting up early in the morning, and staying up late at night, for the bread you eat, when he showers down blessings on his beloved, while they slumber.’ So our job is to stay His Beloved. So he can shower down his blessings…
SNR: What advice would you give to someone who loves the Lord, who loves to sing, but may be a little nervous about it?
Gibson: …If you have a voice, you like to sing, record something. There’s lots of people who sing, but nail it down. You like a song, you’re singing a song you really like, record it, just find a way. Find an uncle to back you if you don’t have the money, or just save and do it but make a CD, record it. Because when you are at Mass and you do open your mouth, and you have that opportunity to sing, somebody’s gonna like it and you know, want to take it home with them. And then you have something to share, and they can take it home and listen. And then you’re in business.
So if you’re a musician, you really like being a musician, even if you have a day job. And you should always have a day job. Because I started small, and I started with what I could. When I left New York, I left the biggest, fanciest studios, the most skilled and on-demand players… All I had was my keyboard, my synthesizer from what I had learned from arranging and playing. I just programmed my little synthesizer.
My first three CDs are just me and a mini voice synthesizer. But if I didn’t have that, I wouldn’t have anything. I just started with what I had. So if all you have is a guitar and your voice, do it, just do what you can, but see if you do it for the Lord. He will bless it if he wants to… But if nothing else, you’re expressing your heart and you’re helping other people to tap into that... maybe they’re able to hear their heart in your music.
Everybody’s different. It’s like an artist. Somebody likes Rembrandt. Somebody likes Van Gogh, you know, it’s all subjective. Not everybody likes my kind of music. You know, maybe they would prefer your kind of music, but they won’t know if they don’t hear it. So share your kind of music. That’s what the Lord has given you. And He wants you to share it because music is meant to be shared, like Augustine said, he who loves, sings. If you love the Lord, you can’t help but sing. So record it, sing it, share it, share your heart, and I’m sure there will be a heart out there that will resonate with it.
Watch the full interview on YouTube @CatholicDioceseofLincoln.
