Dennis Curry, Carillonneur of Kirk in the Hills Presbyterian Church in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, contacted me about writing a piece for the rededication of the renovated 77-bell carillon of the Kirk. May 23, 1999, Pentecost Sunday, was the date of the rededication festivities. I had been present at the dedication of the carillon in 1960, and had met Frederick L. Marriott, the church's Minister of Music, Organist, and Carillonneur. There are many in the congregation who still remember Marriott's fine qualities; a musical tribute to his memory seemed appropriate. Marriott had composed a setting of the Sarum Plainsong "O Trinity of Blessed Light" for carillon.

"Light" became the central theme of the piece. The title and opening phrases are taken from stanza 5 of the Gregorian chant sequence for Pentecost Sunday, "Veni, Sancte Spiritus." The text is translated as: "O Light most blessed, fill the innermost hearts of Thy faithful." The second image of light is derived from a section of The Cathedral at Night, an organ piece composed in 1949 by Marriott. A sustained low tone is descriptive of a ray of light penetrating the darkness to illuminate the cross on the altar. The modal theme suggests humanity's constant search for the divine solace.

The central section of the piece is a theme and two variations based on a Sarum plainsong with a 6th Century text: "O Light of the Blessed Trinity, Thou Light of eternal Unity, For us, Blessed Trinity, shine in our inermost [sic] hearts." A return to Marriott's ray of light theme follows, and the piece ends quietly with the Gregorian "Amen, Alleluia" from the Pentecost sequence quoted at the beginning.

—John Courter