Showing posts with label chant the Our Father. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chant the Our Father. Show all posts

Sunday, November 18, 2018

The small frail voice

We chanted the Our Father at Mass yesterday. Normally we just say it en masse, but yesterday we chanted it.

I stood next to Mom as I do, since I take her to Church most Saturdays. All I could hear was her small, frail voice as she chanted. It was as though memory and habit had kicked in as she dutifully half sung the prayer. Her voice was a bit raspy. Yet it was one of the most poignant, quietly beautiful things I've heard.

I'm trying desperately not to become maudlin here. That would undermine anything I want to say. It might destroy whatever point I'm trying to make. But that small, frail voice.

I couldn't continue the chant myself once I actually heard Mom. That voice, little but lithe and lovely, overpowered me. I had to stop; I was too choked up, and it wouldn't do to upset her if she saw me upset. So I just listened, and, I think, appreciated the moment.