"Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom..."
Remember. We tend to think of this word as a memory. The dictionary gives several meanings to the word "remember":
To recall to the mind;
to retain in the memory; keep in mind; remain aware of;
to possess or exercise the faculty of memory;
to have recollection;
to remind.
"Do This in Remembrance of Me" is a phrase I recall seeing on a beautifully carved wooden altar in a rural church. When the priest holds up the large wafer and the challis and declares the words of Jesus "This is my Body" and "This is my Blood" it is finished with "Do this in memory of me." I was always struck with profound wonder the phrases "This is my Body" and "This is my Blood" until last Sunday. During the homily, our priest began talking about in that Sunday's Mass we remember the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, then continued talking about the Eucharist. I was still caught up in the word remember as the priest continued with his sermon. Remember. Do this in remembrance of Me.
As the early Christian scholars translated the Bible for us, specific words that were used particularly to evoke certain connotations were translated to the closest meaning in the other language. Many times that specific connotation was lost in translation. I wonder if this, too, happened as the words "Do this in memory of Me" are echoed in the Eucharist. Do we get the Body and the Blood lost in memory? (Literally?)
Memory is recalling something that has happened. Recall and recollect are synonyms to the word remember. Recall and recollect, according to the dictionary, imply that voluntary effort is needed to bring about a memory. However, the word remember "implies that a thing exists in the memory, though not actually present in the thoughts at the moment." The key word is exists. The word remember exists, apparently regardless of thought. Just as Jesus exists, regardless what we think.
As I sat in my pew pondering the word remember, I thought of the meanings of the word broken up. Re and member. Thoughts of reattaching severed limbs came to mind. How fitting it is that we, the people of God, are like severed limbs. Severed by sin from our Creator and Father. Just as Jesus, who became the severed limb, or perhaps more fitting, the severed body for us, suffered and died on the cross, and saved us from our sins and transgressions. It is the true and sacred act of the Eucharist that re-members Jesus to us, and when we eat This Bread and drink This Cup, we are re-membered with our Creator.
The one dictionary entry that I thought was most compelling of the verb remember was this: "To have or use the power of memory." The sacrament of the Holy Eucharist is powerful. Here, we come to the altar broken. Severed. Disconnected. Dismembered from God by our human condition and sin. I go to the altar severed, humbled, yearning to be reconnected, asking for forgiveness and healing. "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you. But, only say the word and I shall be healed." It is not any act of me that causes the re-membering of my soul, but the existence of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit that re-members my severed soul. Mercy leads to grace. The Eucharist is, then, a spiritual reunion. The Eucharist is the power of the Holy Spirit that re-members the existence of Jesus to my soul.
The Eucharist is a re-membering of individual souls and the collective soul of the Church to our God. This spiritual meal of super-ethereal proportions reconnects our spiritually severed limbs to the existing One Body. When the phrase "Do this in remembrance of me" is invoked, it is Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, re-membering the Church to God. Communion truly is the power of the Holy Spirit that allows our souls' memory of Jesus to re-member us together in the One Body. The Body and Blood is broken, not only in memory, but also in re-membering.
As we celebrate Communion on earth, I wonder if this is how we are re-membered on the day of judgment. The tune rings in my head, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom..." What does that mean? I think to myself about the criminal on the cross next to Jesus who cried out that plea to the Son of God on that fateful day. Full of despair and anguish. Grief beyond grief. A desperate cry of hope. I acknowledge you. I do believe. My soul yearns for you, O God! Re-member my severed soul. Re-member me unto you, O Lord! It is the cry of my soul. This is my plea, too. It was on that cross my Psalm was answered.
It is the same cry back to my own soul when Jesus said on the the night he was betrayed "Do this in remembrance of Me." Jesus, King of kings, and Lord of lords, yearns to be re-membered with me? Is Jesus truly calling to my soul to be re-membered to Him? Really? Yet, Jesus replies to my soul as He replied to the criminal as He hung on the cross "Today, you will be with Me in Paradise." Peace beyond all human understanding.
I humbly bow before The Body and The Blood. Lord, I really am not worthy to receive you. I know it is nothing I do, but it is through the amazing power of the Holy Spirit within me. Have mercy on me, Lord. Pour Your Grace over my soul. Heal me, O God. Speak the words of Eternal Life. Re-member me.
Jesus replies, "Go, it will be done for you just as you have believed."
"Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom..."
