“Near the Cross”
Five Days at Memorial“Near the Cross” is the gospel song Angela McManus sings to her mother, Wilda McManus, when Wilda asks her to sing. In a hospital crisis where ordinary care has become difficult, the song continues a familiar religious practice between them and offers a moment of companionship without resolving the uncertainty around Wilda’s condition.
The Song in the Scene
Wilda asks Angela to sing, and Angela sings as she has before, “like it was church.” The song is described as being about the soul finding rest. As Angela sings, Wilda shuts her eyes. The account gives the moment a quiet conclusion, but does not say that Wilda dies then; its emphasis is on the song as an answer to her request.
A Practice of Care
The song belongs to a larger pattern of care Angela sustains under exhausting conditions. She attends to her mother’s needs, speaks with her, sings, and prays with her. When running water is unavailable, Angela recruits a nurse to help clean Wilda and change her dressing. Singing is thus not an isolated gesture: it accompanies the practical work of caregiving and gives mother and daughter a familiar way to be together.
Faith in Daily Life
Before the storm, Wilda had recited the Lord’s Prayer and the Twenty-Third and Ninety-First Psalms. Her prayer sessions at LifeCare had become familiar enough that staff called them “church.” Against that background, Angela’s return to song is an expression of lived faith rather than a formal service: a private ritual carried into an emergency.
Significance
The scene connects religious language with immediate, personal care. The song’s promise of rest resonates with Angela’s earlier effort to comfort her mother as death seemed near, while Wilda’s request keeps the moment grounded in their relationship. The book does not supply the song’s lyrics or claim that it changes the outcome; it shows instead how singing can sustain intimacy when other forms of help are strained.
