The Invisible Choir

A few years ago, I was singing for a wedding at Divine Word. My friend Tim was playing violin. After mass, my dear friend (and faithful alto) Carol Ann came up from the church’s lower level.
“Who was the gentleman singing with you?” she asked.
“It was just me and the violin,” I answered.
“No!” she insisted, “I heard a man’s voice singing harmony with you - it was beautiful!”  
I stared at her for a moment, then asked, “My guardian angel?”

Before that, once in a while, I thought I was hearing strings or a horn. I’m a composer and arranger, so I often hear music in my head. When I hear those extra parts playing along I think, “How lovely!” We have guitars, woodwinds, keyboards, piano, but strings and horns are generally saved for Christmas and Easter. Then we started to hear an extra voice or two during mass. One of our altos had passed into the next world, and we’d smile when we heard her -  sure it was Barb who occasionally joined us as we sang.

At one funeral, Fr. Jim Caddy stopped me after mass.
“I can look over and count the number of people you have singing with you. Six people. Today, you had six singers. Why does it sound like you have an entire chorus of people?”
I looked at him, smiled, and said, “I’m sure it’s our guardian angels singing with us, so, twelve singers today?”

Last week, we had a funeral at Divine Word. We had Mike and Rose on guitars, but there were just three of us singing: Jerry, Eileen and me. Down in our lower level, we had chefs preparing lunches for distribution at a downtown center. After the service, Claire (one of our chefs) stopped me, “You sounded like ten people today, who was singing?” Carol Ann (preparing food downstairs) said it sounded like a huge choir - more than ten people - singing. Jane even ran to the stairwell and came upstairs to count because she didn’t believe Carol Ann who told her there were only three of us.

During the last few years, we’ve lost more good friends - Carl, Phyllis and Toni - to the next world. I have a confession to make: at each of their caskets, I look to the right of their casket, where their spirit is standing, and tell them, “Come and sing with me if you have time.” I didn’t realize we would be able to hear them! I am so very lucky to have devoted music ministers AND and my dear Invisible Choir.