The Listening Heart
New Texts by One of the Great Hymn Writers of Our Day
The latest collection from this beloved poet solidifies her standing as one of the great hymn writers of our day. Marked by vivid imagery and spiritual depth, these 35 new texts display her growing mastery of the form. Reading and singing them, alone or in community, you emerge as from a sacred place, uplifted and renewed.
Newly Composed Musical Settings
While the musical settings in her previous collections were drawn from traditional hymn tunes, The Listening Heart features newly composed settings inspired by these very texts. Well-known composer and fellow Benedictine Tobias Colgan wrote 23 of the settings. Other contributors include Randall DeBruyn, Paul Inwood, Craig Kingsbury and Jesuit Father Christopher Willcock.
Written in plainsong and traditional hymn styles, the 35 new tunes are outstanding additions to the repertoire. Each setting sprang from meditations on the poem its paired with, the music reinforcing the meaning, motion and mood of the words.
Paul Inwood's setting for "Now Robed in White,"for example, moves from minor chords, for the verses on martyrs once robed in blood,to major, for the refrain celebrating their ultimate victory. The music includes choral and keyboard parts.
Reflecting the Author's Own Listening Heart
The title comes from "How Blest the Listening Heart," one of Sister Geneveive's strongest texts to date. Though it refers to St. Benedict and other founders of religious communities, the image of a listening heartalso fits the author. She, too, has a heart open to divine promptings.
Beyond praising holy ones who came before us, it's an invitation — to all of us — to cultivate that same quality: How blest the listening heart attuned to hear / The silent Voice that once Elijah heard / Upon the mountaintop, and cloaked his face / In awe before the beauty of the Word.
Reflects a Distinctive Benedictine Spirituality
Verses this sublime could only come from one who listens, one acquainted with silence, one saturated with God's word from decades of lectio divina. In this and other ways, the collection reflects a distinctive Benedictine spirituality. Instilled with a natural musicality, these texts also show her genius for rhyme and rhythm.
Includes Inspiring commentary by the Author
The book presents each hymn in the form of a poem, with Scripture references, a commentary and suggested uses on the opposite page, followed by the musical setting. Written by Sister Genevieve, the pithy commentaries expose the sources and inspiration behind the texts. Indexes include seasonal/liturgical, themes and images, metrical, scriptural, hymn tunes, first line/titles, and composer.
Intended for use in parish liturgies, the collection is also perfect for Liturgy of the Hours and prayer services. It will be especially welcome in religious communities, retreat centers and prayer groups. Like her previous books, its an excellent devotional resource, both hymns and commentaries making for inspirational reading.