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February 25

Memory

While we are to live the present and to anticipate the future, the past is still very much with us. It lives on in our memory and continues to shape us for good or ill.

It is true there is much we forget. With the passage of time things simply drop away. They fall into forgetfulness. But it is also true there are things we actively remember. These things are part of our conscious life. There are also things that come to memory at certain times and in certain circumstances. We thought we had forgotten some things, but

suddenly the memories are back with a vengeance.

St. Augustine understood this. He writes, “My childhood, for

instance, which is no longer, still exists in time past. . . . But when I call to mind its image and speak of it, I see it in the present because it is still in my memory.”56

It is good to remember both the good and bad times. The latter we need to grieve, the former calls us to ongoing thankfulness. And in

remembering we can often see more clearly the traces of God’s loving

fingers and the footprints of God’s grace.

To remember the faithfulness of God in our past is a way of

reminding ourselves of our journey and of the One who has so amazingly

accompanied us. And while much of this accompaniment may have gone unnoticed, God’s goodness has left its traces.

Thought

To remember is to embrace all of who we are and to see the signs of God as a reminder of God’s presence.