Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent

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The last few lines in the first reading really strike me.

“However, take care and be earnestly on your guard not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live, but teach them to your children and to your children’s children.” (Deuteronomy 4:9)

I have found myself focused on memories over this past year, or maybe even longer. In February of last year, my mom passed away. Her memory is something that I have been living with this past year in a real way. However, it is not just her memory in my mind that I think about. I have really been focusing on doing the things she loved, to keep her memory alive. It is making her famous lasagna or her chocolate cake that everyone loved, it is taking care of her dog that we have adopted into our family, it is wearing a piece of her jewelry. It is telling stories and laughing about ways that she did things. It is about crying when I stop to really think about her physically being gone. It is about hugging my daughter a little tighter when she misses her Grandma B.

As I think about this past year, we all have memories of people and things and events that we haven’t been able to do; at least in the same way that we did them before. We are all learning to “be” in a different way. Memories seem to transport us back to a place or time that we long for, or that we want to forget.

As we are in the midst of these 40 days of Lent, we are called to remember. We remember Jesus in the desert, we remember Jesus’ miracles and loving heart, we remember his suffering, and death, and ultimately, we remember his resurrection, just like we do when we are gathered together as a community to pray.

As I remember my mom, I also remember Jesus. I remember how he loves us all so much and how he is in all of our hearts. Knowing that memories are always with us, I will remember to always teach my children about Jesus, and to always make sure that the memory of Grandma B never slips from their mind.

Debi Haug

Association of Franciscan Colleges and Universities