In remembrance. . .

As my wife was putting up the Christmas tree and decorations on the day the Lord appointed (Black Friday), she held a simple white Nativity set that we had been given by members of my first parish well over 35 years ago.  Our Christmas decorations are filled with such gifts.  Opening up the bins and unwrapping them is a walk down memory lane.  I expect we are not alone.

The problem is that over time, moving, and so many other things, we lose track of these people and families.  Now, so long after this gift was given, we both wondered aloud what had happened to this family, to the children now adults in their mid-30s, and to a thousand other folks whose lives have crossed our own.  If there is a good to social media, it is that often old relationships can be rekindled as we find those whom we have lost.  It does not always work but sometimes it does.  In the meantime, we are left with our memories and the warmth in our hearts as we remember and give thanks.

As much as we do this with friends, the cherished treasures of our family which we bring out for the various holy days and family celebrations are the same.  As we moved things around to set up the tree, my wife held a golden glass candy dish that was my mothers.  As she prepared the Thanksgiving feast, her heart and voice recalled the years she watched and helped her mother and the lessons learned.  All of these memories are both tearful and joyful as we awaken in us the lives of those whom we love.

Memories are not always attached to things or to the things we do but they often are.  When we make our way through flea markets and antique places (now virtually the same), our memories are triggered by seeing things that remind us of people and events in our past.  It is not strictly the memory of an event that lives in us but relationships and love and affection and hope.  This is most certainly true for the Christian.  We do not grieve as others who have no hope but grieve in the hope and expectation of eternal life with those whom we love.  The memories are not simply voyages into our past but the acknowledgement that who we are is shaped by those who touched our lives with faith and love in Christ.  Oh, how we long for the grand reunion with those who have passed into the nearer presence of God.  We are all waiting for the same day -- the day when the old is made new and heart is full to the brim of all the things for which we give thanks.  Though now in part and then in full, it is a joyful thing to remember and give thanks.

It is surely some of these things that the Lord knew in setting up a blessed meal in which He not only bestows upon us His body and blood but also invites us to remember and give thanks.  We are participating in something grand which is wonderful and yet it too is but a shadow of the fullness to come, the foretaste of the eternal.  Our Lord gives us a meal, food, His Word, the fruits of His redeeming work, and memory -- together they work to help us more than recall but to give thanks.  Sermons are great, mind you I have preached thousands of them.  But it is in the eating, drinking, and giving thanks that the Lord engages us as a whole and not merely the mind.  I have never understood those Christians whose hunger for the Holy Sacrament has faded.  If anything, God grows this hunger even by the eating just as the memory grows by the telling.  If we enjoy in some small way the appreciation of tokens given us by friends and family along the way, how much more are we drawn to remember and give thanks to the Lord by His gift of the Holy Eucharist.