Trinity Sunday...

It has been said that the Church in her wisdom instituted Trinity Sunday so that at least once a year there's some theology in the homily...

Anyway, if you don't hear the following at Mass today, you might want to see about getting a new choir director!

Firmly I believe and truly
God is Three, and God is One;
And I next acknowledge duly
Manhood taken by the Son.

And I trust and hope most fully
In that Manhood crucified;
And each thought and deed unruly
Do to death, as He has died.

Simply to His grace and wholly
Light and life and strength belong,
And I love supremely, solely,
Him the holy, Him the strong.

And I hold in veneration,
For the love of Him alone,
Holy Church as His creation,
And her teachings are His own.

And I take with joy whatever
Now besets me, pain or fear,
And with a strong will I sever
All the ties which bind me here.

Adoration aye be given,
With and through the angelic host,
To the God of earth and heaven,
Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
- John Henry Newman (From The Dream of Gerontius)

Incidentally, I'd also urge you never to pass up on a performance of Elgar's oratorio 'The Dream of Gerontius' - his masterful arrangement of Newman's poem is probably the most beautiful meditation on the church's teaching on what awaits us at the end of this mortal life. The 'Dream' was almost certainly the last musical performance attended by Pius XII (of happy memory) before he died. Sir John Barbirolli conducted a performance at Castel Gandolfo a few days before the Pontiff's death. His Holiness is said to have described it as a 'sublime masterpiece'.