20240926 MEMORY AND MEMORIES
First reading |
Ecclesiastes 1:2-11 |
Nothing is new and all is vanity
Vanity of vanities, the Preacher says. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity! For all his toil, his toil under the sun, what does man gain by it?
A generation goes, a generation comes, yet the earth stands firm for ever. The sun rises, the sun sets; then to its place it speeds and there it rises. Southward goes the wind, then turns to the north; it turns and turns again; back then to its circling goes the wind. Into the sea all the rivers go, and yet the sea is never filled, and still to their goal the rivers go. All things are wearisome. No man can say that eyes have not had enough of seeing, ears their fill of hearing. What was will be again; what has been done will be done again; and there is nothing new under the sun. Take anything of which it may be said, ‘Look now, this is new.’ Already, long before our time, it existed. Only no memory remains of earlier times, just as in times to come next year itself will not be remembered.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 89(90):3-6,12-14,17 |
O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.
You turn men back to dust
and say: ‘Go back, sons of men.’
To your eyes a thousand years
are like yesterday, come and gone,
no more than a watch in the night.
O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.
You sweep men away like a dream,
like the grass which springs up in the morning.
In the morning it springs up and flowers:
by evening it withers and fades.
O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.
Make us know the shortness of our life
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Lord, relent! Is your anger for ever?
Show pity to your servants.
O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.
In the morning, fill us with your love;
we shall exult and rejoice all our days.
Let the favour of the Lord be upon us:
give success to the work of our hands.
O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.
Gospel Acclamation | Ps118:18 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Open my eyes, O Lord, that I may consider
the wonders of your law.
Alleluia!
Or: | Jn14:6 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, says the Lord;
No one can come to the Father except through me.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Luke 9:7-9 |
'John? I beheaded him; so who is this?'
Herod the tetrarch had heard about all that was being done by Jesus; and he was puzzled, because some people were saying that John had risen from the dead, others that Elijah had reappeared, still others that one of the ancient prophets had come back to life. But Herod said, ‘John? I beheaded him. So who is this I hear such reports about?’ And he was anxious to see Jesus.
26 September 2024, Thursday, 25th Week in Ordinary Time
MEMORY AND MEMORIES
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ECCLESIASTES 1:2-11; LUKE 9:7-9]
One of the components of the human mind is the faculty of memory. The memory stores all our memories of past events. We can use our memory for good, as the Preacher did by inviting us to reflect on the cyclical reality of human nature and the way we live, or it can haunt us, especially if these memories spring from a bad conscience, as in the case of King Herod who killed John the Baptist. We should therefore learn from our memory of things and events so that we can grow in life. Indeed, the reason why we keep on making mistakes is because, as Qoheleth says, “Only no memory of remains of earlier times, just as in times to come next year itself will not be remembered.” Why is this so?
We all tend to forget the good that God and our loved ones have done for us. We often take for granted what people have done for us, the sacrifices that they have made, the efforts they have taken to help us, whether in things big or small. Indeed, so short is our memory that deep friendships are broken simply because our friend or loved ones failed us just once. We take to heart that they have disappointed us. We no longer trust them anymore. We cannot let go of their negligence or weakness. Indeed, it is so sad that many years of friendship and intimacy are forgotten over a mistake or a failure in weakness. We expect our friends to be perfect and always be there for us. When they fall short of our expectations of them, we terminate the friendship. In the process, we deprive ourselves of true friendship. We forget that true friendship takes time to build and true friends must go through the thick and thin of the vicissitudes of life to grow in friendship.
On the contrary, when it comes to our own failures, we forget easily. We keep repeating the same mistakes even when we have paid a price for them. We allow our weak human nature to get the better of us by succumbing to indulgence for food, drinks, and unhealthy entertainment. Some of us have caused much suffering not just to ourselves but to others as well due to the mistakes or offences we committed. There are some who never learn their lessons – such as getting addicted to gambling and running up a debt, drinking and reckless driving, eating unhealthily at the expense of their health, watching pornography, not studying and working diligently. Some of our mistakes have caused us and our loved ones to suffer tremendously when they had to bail us out or when they were deprived of their needs. Unfortunately, we never learn. A lazy student does not learn from his failure; a person in debt does not learn from the evils of greed and gambling.
Indeed, when we forget, we will repeat the same mistakes over and over again. The preacher said, “No man can say that eyes have not had enough of seeing, ears their fill of hearing. What was will be again; what has been done will be done again; and there is nothing new under the sun. Take anything of which it may be said, “Look now, this is new.” Already, long before our time, it existed.” We have made our mistakes. We have seen how others made mistakes. We have seen the possible consequences. Every day we read in the news of crimes committed – rape, molest, criminal breach of trust committed even by professionals and influential people and murder. Yet, why is it that we never learn from our mistakes or that of others? If that is the case, why even bother to read the papers at all, if not to learn from the experiences and events of life. This is just indulging in gossip and it does us no good, unless we allow them to jolt our conscience so that we can avoid them. Alas, what we read about others going to jail for their crimes would and could happen to us at some other time. We never learn!
History unfortunately repeats itself. This was the case of King Herod. We are told that he liked to listen to John the Baptist. “Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him.” (Mk 6:20) But he did not think deeply or reflected for himself. Instead, he allowed the temptations of the world to distract him. He allowed power, fame, popularity and lust to overcome him. So his whole life was but a repetition of his mistakes and he would end up destroying himself.
The truth about history is that it is meant to be a collection of memories of past events so that we can be inspired by the great and noble things that our forefathers have done, and also their mistakes as well, so that we can learn from them. History is meant to be instructive. When we study history, we read with the keen eye of a student. This is why, objectivity in reading history is important for our growth. A subjective reading of history would only perpetuate our views and thinking, and not allow us to grow and be challenged by the past. Because most history is written from a contextualized and subjective viewpoint, we must read different interpretations of historical events so that we have a more holistic understanding of such events.
We must use history as our teacher of life, of love and of truth so that we never repeat the mistakes in our lives. Indeed, our memory must be put to good use. Storing such memories in our mind will help us to walk in wisdom and love. This is true when we read the scriptures, the Word of God, the life of Christ, the history of the Church, the lives of saints and martyrs. They help us to live our life more purposefully and inspire us to persevere and learn from their examples, good or bad. We must look at history objectively and yet positively, recognizing where we have failed and the lessons we have learnt; or be inspired by the lives of others. History should give us hope for the future so that we can do better. History helps us to understand our humanity and the process of growth and purification.
Otherwise, history cannot be our teacher. It becomes a bad conscience as in the case of King Herod. He was haunted by his past. Instead of history being our teacher, it becomes our guilt. We live in fear of our past. We cannot let go of what happened to us or to our loved ones. We think negatively of all the things that happened in our life. We become sad, bitter and fall into depression. We blame people for the situations in our life. We live in guilt and we punish ourselves again and again. We will only paralyze our present and forfeit our future. Having a bad conscience will not save us unless it comes from good guilt, that is, an awareness that we have done wrong and a desire to repent.
This is why, the Preacher invites us to reflect on the natural cycle of life. He said, “A generation goes, a generation comes, yet the earth stands firm for ever. The sun rises, the sun sets; then to its place it speeds and there it rises. Southward goes the wind, then turns to the north; it turns and turns again; back then to its circling goes the wind. Into the sea all the rivers go, and yet the sea is never filled, and still to their goal the rivers go.” Life is a cycle, but it is not wearisome as he said. But for us, Christians, our destiny is not cyclic but linear. We are moving in Christ towards the eschaton, towards heaven. We are exactly like the rest of nature, rising and dying, dying and rising. Rather, our Christian faith shows that amidst the rising and dying; the dying and rising, we are moving towards the fulfilment of our being.
Life is short. The psalmist said, “O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next. To your eyes a thousand years are like yesterday, come and gone, no more than a watch in the night. You sweep men away like a dream, like the grass which springs up in the morning. In the morning it springs up and flowers: by evening it withers and fades. Make us know the shortness of our life that we may gain wisdom of heart.” When we come to realize the shortness of our life, then we will want to take our life seriously, instead of wasting it away. We have our memories of the past, and we can use them to our advantage and not for our destruction. Rather than depending on ourselves, we turn to the Lord for mercy and help. “O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next. Lord, relent! Show pity to your servants. In the morning, fill us with your love; we shall exult and rejoice all our days. Let the favour of the Lord be upon us: give success to the work of our hands.”
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment