Composer Notes

I was drawn to this simple prayer of meditation. One that is meant to be spoken at the end of the day, maybe privately or together. simple words to help us though the night when we may be most vulnerable. I was immediately taken by the repetition of the words “May the grace of the love…” Are the stars, the wind and the waters sending us love through their grace. I love this image of unearned love, because to me “grace” is given regardless of past deeds. And thus, I am deserving of the love from the stars and the winds and the waters regardless of what I did that day. I am deserving because I am alive, and that is the only criteria. And there are days when I need to know this.

I hope you enjoy this simple prayer set for all voice parts to shine on their own before weaving their melodies together, similar to all life which surrounds us. J Philip Newell writes in the introduction to “Celtic Prayers from Iona” that “Most of the prayers in [his] book, their rhythms and images, are drawn form and inspired by the work of Alexander Carmichael of Edinburgh… [who transcribed] the prayers from the sung Gaelic, and eventually published them in the Carmina Gadelica in 1900.”