Apart from an omission in the Credo, the work follows the traditional Latin text of the Ordinary of the Mass. Even though the liturgy, as form and as meaning, has long since ceased to be a “self-evident” part of our collective experience, a musical setting is still possible in the form of a personal enquiry, and one that is hesitantly hopeful. With our rationality firmly fixed on the “logic” of our present situation we are prepared to surrender the earth. Thus the search for a higher reason is at once utopian and essential for continued existence.