The Blessing of Memory

Hearing the call of the Bob White Quail is a mystical experience that always causes me to exit the world in which I am walking and enter into a world full of mystery and memory.  When I hear the unique sound going forth, I always find myself stopping, and listening for a second call as I prepare myself to imitate the call that is sure to come.  And, it is also a time of blessing as I remember the many times I have followed a bird dog in search of their hiding places.  And, of course, there is nothing like the rush of excitement as the birds explode into the air.    

In these later years I am always amazed at how there is such blessing in our memory of things from the past.  Sometimes the memories are so powerful it seems that we have arrived again at the moment of their inception.  Remembering might be viewed in some circumstances as a grim reminder of things gone wrong, but good remembrances are like gratitude in that there are more of them than we often see at first glance.  The ability to remember is a precious gift given by a loving Creator.     

The Word is full of calls to remember.  We are told to "Remember the sabbath day..."  (Exodus 20:8).  The Hebrews were called to remember the way God had blessed them as a people in many different ways.  And, as we share the Sacrament, we are told through the ritual to "do this in remembrance of Him..."  God uses the memory which He has gifted to us to bring to mind who we are, who He is, and how we have learned to walk the road of faith.  These memories not only bring warmth to our heart, but they also give to us a sense that even as He has blessed us in the past, He will surely do so as we go forward into whatever it is that the future holds.