“Remember
Jesus Christ, raised from the dead.”
This is how our first reading from the 2nd letter of Timothy
begins today. Remembering Jesus was
important for those communities in the early Church, to remember what Jesus’
death and resurrection and ministry were all about, to remember what connection
He had to their current lives of faith.
I was just remarking to a parishioner last week how important the act of
remembering is to our faith. We remember
those who formed us in our faith. My
mom’s mother died many years before I was born, but I remember her from stories
that were told to me throughout my lifetime, how her strong faith in Christ was
passed down to me even though I never met her.
We remember the saints who lives of faith are testimonies and witnesses
to us. I was reading the list of saints
for the month of June, and included in that list is Blessed Robert Salt, a
Carthusian monk who refused to let his monastery be shut down by King Henry
VIII when he shut down monasteries and convents in England after he established
the Church of England. Robert Salt was
starved to death, being one of 18 monks in central London in the London
Charterhouse monastery who died from 1535 to 1540 by either execution or starvation. Though these deaths for the faith occurred
more than 500 years ago, they stand as a testimony to us today, especially as
our own religious liberties are under attack.
We remember
many things in our faith. The act of
remembering is very important to us. May we continue to remember.
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