The feast of Christmas cannot be contained in one service on Christmas Day. The wonders of God-made-man, Jesus Christ, and his birth for our salvation are unfolded during the cycle of services provided to the faithful by the Church. Both in the Eastern and Western Churches, the services are full of profoundly mystical texts and chant radiant with the wonder of Emmanuel, God-with-us.
Chant and Spirituality of Christmas explores the cycles of the Christmas feast, bringing out riches from the storehouse of Gregorian chant, Byzantine chant, Slavic chant, tied together with a narration permitting the listener to enter deeply into the event. It invites the faithful into a new dialogue with this ancient feast, permitting the spiritual benefits to overflow into the secular celebration.
Each selection listed on the CD includes a short narration on the Christmas texts. The second selection omits this meditation on the coming of Christ, simply providing the chanted recording.
Selections are
- Hodie scietis
- Tomorrow, In a Manner Beyond Our Understanding
- Tollite portas
- Behold, the Time for Our Salvation Draws Near!
- Of the Father's Love Begotten
- God Is with Us
- Hodie nobis de caelo
- Christos gennatai: Doxasate!
- Lux fulgebit hodie super nos
- Our Savior, the Dayspring from the East
- Facta est cum angelo
- Evprainesthe, dikaioi
- Puer natus est nobis
- O Only-Begotten Son and Word of God
- Tui sunt caeli
- He gennesis sou, Christe ho Theos
- Tecum principium
- O Virgin without a Husband
- Gaudeamus omnes fideles
- When Augustus Became the Supreme Ruler
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