Northern Spire

About Since We Are Children of God:

Since We Are Children of God (2014) is a setting of the Communion Antiphon for the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity, known more simply as Trinity Sunday.  The text of the Antiphon is adapted from Galatians 4:6, and highlights our own relationship to the Trinity: "Since we are children of God, he has sent into our hearts the Spirit of his Son, the Spirit who cries out: Abba, Father."  The verse text is taken directly from Old Testament Scripture, from First Chronicles 29, which speaks of offering God praise for all he has done for his Chosen People.

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Trinity Sunday can be a difficult feast for which to program music, and many homilists also find it difficult for preaching, due to the fact that it is a celebration of the mystery surrounding the very nature of God, and not of a specific moment in Salvation History, worthy as it may be to celebrate this mystery.  The concept of the Trinity is difficult to interpret for our assemblies, both musically and homiletically!  My hope is that this piece provides a good option within this framework to aid musicians and, perhaps, even homilists, as well, with a singable Antiphon using scriptural text that puts us squarely in the midst of the Trinity itself.

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The piece was composed for a priest friend, Fr. Jim Davis, who celebrated his First Mass as a priest on Trinity Sunday in my hometown of Northville, NY in 2014.  I have used it at St. Peter's in Saratoga Springs, NY, where I serve as Music Director, on Trinity Sunday ever since.

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Click on the title page image above to view a sample score.