With so many chants to choose from, I suppose I still like the Dominus Dixit introit the best, for the melody's annunciatory power and for the transcendent text. For the beginning moment of Christmas day, we go to the beginning before time, the Word's birth in the bosom of the Father.
I suspect that I have company in having a special esteem for In spendoribus.sanctorum. Certainly, this echos the profundity of Dominus dixit and signals the plenitude of sanctity of this Child, begotten in a virgin's womb by the Holy of holies Himself. God was the Father who put him there. The parallel with Dominus dixit is theologically adroit.
I love them all but I really love In Splendoribus. My girls sang it this year and for some reason their voices gave it a special power. I think they even knew it themselves as a calm came over them as they sang it. I was exhausted and yet renewed...
These conversations really give me hope and remind me that the ground of American Catholic music has really changed since I entered it in 1984. At that time, talking about propers would have been unheard of and one doing it even less.
I know..there are not that many, but little by little.
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