MANY WERE CALLED...most were chosen. The girls go to Catholic School

Kyrie Eleison

(Lord Have Mercy) 

This is what the girls imagined they would sound like when Sister announced tryouts for the new Children's Choir.   The hopefuls were all girls.  The boys got to be alter servers.  http://youtu.be/8yXJ0MDTI4Q

Sister had announced that each hopeful would stand next to the organ and without accompaniment sing one line of the "Kyrie."   This was not good news.  Why not "Holy God We Praise Thy Name" or "Holy, Holy, Holy"  If it had to be Latin,  how about   "Agnus Dei."  Being Catholic was never a simple matter.
  Attending a summer Bible School with cousins, the girls belted out  songs like, "Jesus Loves Me, This I Know" and "This Little Light of Mine" with gusto.   At home, the girls knew better than to ask their tone deaf mother for help. Father had no patience or saw no promise.  The girls were uncertain as they sang in quavering voices to each other.  Little sister covered her ears and made faces. This was not a good sign but also unreliable.
 Unassuming and gentle, Sister Annine poked her head into Sister Lorenzo's class.  "Raise your hand if you wish to be considered for the choir.  OK, follow me."  Two by two, the hopefuls paraded out the side door of school in silence, strictly enforced by all nuns, even the kinder ones.  Climbing the front steps of church, Sister held the large heavy oak door.  Hearts were pounding as the girls climbed the narrow staircase leading to the loft and organ.

The church was completely empty and as vast as the Grand Canyon.  Footsteps echoed.  Whispers sounded like shouts.  The group gathered around Sister who asked cheerily, "Who will be first."  The girls took a couple of steps back and obscured themselves in the crowd.  Being two of the three smallest children in the class made this a simple effort. Eagerly the confident ones waved their hands, jumping up and  down.  Their clear voices echoed in the empty church like angel's anthems.  Sister smiled approvingly.
Agonizingly, one by one, the group got smaller and smaller for each hopeful was dismissed back to class after auditioning.  At last, only the twins remained.  Haltingly, the older twin approached the side of the organ.  A memory sprung to mind.  Sitting on the back steps with grandma, snapping beans, she started to sing. Grandma made a face and turned to inform,  "You have a terrible voice."   "Lord have Mercy," became her fervent prayer as she opened her mouth, filled her lungs and croaked the most God awful sound a person could imagine coming from a child.  "Ky" up and down the register with every flat and sharp note imaginable and unimaginable, "rie" more of the same and on it until the last "son."  You would have to give it to her for heart if nothing else.  Sister had a smile plastered on her face, "OK, thank you.  Return to class.  She was not so hopeful now and wondered how her sister was doing.
That afternoon, Sister poked her head into class and asked to speak to three children, the twins and one other.  Was this good or bad?  She was trying as best a nun could, to be kind to the children when she informed them that they would not be in the choir.  This was a crushing blow, staring blankly and exhaling loudly, there would be no tears.  Even in their young minds came the wonder that this choir, formed for God's praise and glory and made up of every 5th grade girl could not absorb three off key singers.   Sing softly, sing loud or in a whisper, God hears you my child, even when you don't make a sound.