When I was asked by Christoph Maria Moosmann to write a ‘Universalist’ setting of the entire Mass for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, it seemed to be sent from heaven. Since my work and life have been shaped by the Orthodox Church, by Advaita Vedanta (Hindu doctrine of non-duality) as revealed to me in a vision of Frithjof Schuon, and a life-long veneration and love of Mary, the music, as it were, literally exploded onto the page. The commission also gave me the possibility of creating music for the entire Mass including all parts for the celebrant using choir, soloists, strings, (with string quartet* and solo soprano in the high gallery), brass, percussion and organ.
 
I was ever-aware that it should be music for a sacred rite, with all the solemnity and dignity that this implies. I have used Latin, Sanskrit, Arabic, Aramaic, Greek, American Indian, German and Italian to express something of the divine effulgence of the feminine that the Mother of God has revealed to my soul. Many Christians, Hindus, American Indians and Sufis believe that we now live in ‘The Time of Mary’, hence her numerous manifestations to Christians and non-Christians alike, thus proclaiming her ‘Mother of the Universe’. It is indeed timely to contemplate in musical forms the true meaning of her Immaculate Conception, whether one understands this literally or not.

As ‘Mother of the Universe’, I do not hesitate to connect her to the Hindu Goddesses which bear her characteristics of mercy, love, purity, and indeed her Immaculate nature. These invocations appear just before the Credo which establishes the one and only God. There is nothing in the Hindu doctrine of non-duality that is incompatible with our complete and full faith in the Christian Revelation. As Dom Henri Le Saux puts it: “The Advaita is not beyond the Church of Christianity, it is right in the centre of it.”

The Latin plainsong Mass is probably the most sublime musical and liturgical expression that exists. The great French writer Rénè Guénon has indeed said that after plainsong, Western music went in a downhill direction from which it has not recovered. I understand fully what he means, but am also aware of what he calls “La Crise du monde moderne”, which is in part fuelled by the fact that we live in a time when Christianity can no longer remain exclusive. Primitive Christianity knew how to take advantage of Jewish and Greek thinking, so therefore today’s Christianity should use metaphysical ‘echoes’ of the middle and Far East. This happens throughout the Mass, by ‘divine echoes’, which are sung in Sanskrit, Arabic and German through the mystical Marian poetry of Frithjof Schuon. This is not a crude syncretism, but rather perhaps a purification to bring out the true meaning of Christianity. Therefore, there has never been a greater need for a ‘traditional’ setting of the Latin Mass, but one that contains ‘divine echoes’ of other great traditions, as well as constant onomastic prayers sung in Latin throughout the Mass invoking the Divine Names – Jesu – Maria. The Feast of the Immaculate Conception seemed to be the ideal feast for such a universalist approach, indeed it almost seemed to by willed by the Virgin herself.

I am deeply aware of the present Pope’s concern for a creative approach to both liturgy and music, and I therefore humbly dedicate this work to him, as well as dedicating it to the memory of Sheikh Abu Bakr, a Sufi master who loved the Blessed Virgin more deeply than I can say. Both men’s love of the Holy Virgin, and of music, is in important factor in my great respect and esteem for them.