One evening, long ago, I put myself to sleep just after reading these words from Jean-Marie Lustiger:

To grasp again by the memory our existence means to enter once again into possession of our life.

Cardinal Lustiger adds to this the fact that Mary treasured all these things in her heart (Lk 2:19). The words really struck me and stuck with me as I slept and woke again the next day.

How true it is! When we do not have memory, we have not ourselves. Yet, in our fallen state, we can’t have our memory whole and entire without it being permeated and transformed by grace, by Love, by the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. In the measure that it has not been carved out as a place where the Trinity may dwell, our memory is only partial, incomplete, disordered, turned somewhat the wrong way round.

But when our memory, through suffering with the God who is Love, becomes a place where the Trinity can dwell and impart a hope to all our memories and a truth to them, too, then we are in possession of our life – because we have given it up to God.

On a personal note, I’m thinking about memory again, today, because five years ago I became Catholic. Cardinal Lustiger’s words come to mind at this time… Blessed John Paul II asked, “What have you done with your Baptism?” I am thinking, “What have you done with your Confirmation?” And it’s all related to memory.

Some related posts:

• Saint Augustine and Saint John of the Cross: Memory
• Looking Back on the Past