The True Light
The true light, that enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
-John 1:9-11
O nata lux de lumine,
Jesu redemptor saeculi,
dignare clemens supplicum
laudes preces que sumere.
Qui carne quondam contegi
dignatus es pro perditis.
Nos membra confer effici,
tui beati corporis.
O light born of light,Jesus,
redeemer of the world,
with loving-kindness deign to receive
the praises and prayers of your supplicants.
You who once deigned
to be clothed in flesh
for the sake of the lost,
grant us to be members
of your blessed body.
-hymn for the Feast of the Transfiguration
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
-John 1:14
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With thanks to Vassar College, and Christine Howlett, Director of Choral Activities, who commissioned this composition; and to the Banff Centre for the Arts, where much of this project was conceived and drafted in the Valentine Studio of the Leighton Colony, in May 2012. The True Light was premiered on 8 December 2013, at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie NY.