May 26, 2005

Especially during the years leading up to the Great Jubilee of the Birth of Christ in the year 2000, and during the year itself, Pope John Paul II spoke much about the need for the purification of memory. Memory is much more than the archive of past experiences. It is the sanctuary where living truth dwells and remains present in our lives, or at least that is what it’s supposed to be. Unfortunately, though, we often keep other things alive and present in our memories: for example, resentment and past sinful experiences. That’s why memory stands in need of purification so that it can fulfill its authentic purpose.

In his wonderful creativity, St. Bernard of Clairvaux uses a striking bodily image to describe the effects of sin on memory. He compares the pleasure of sin to the fleeting taste of delicious but unhealthy food. That taste quickly fades, leaving us with that uncomfortable sense of feeling overstuffed. He writes in his Sermon to Clerics on Conversion: “How could the stomach of my memory not ache, when it is crammed with so much muck?” To remedy the situation, one first needs to stop stuffing himself with unhealthy food and enter into a period of fasting, so that all of that uncomfortable spiritual indigestion can pass out of him. Then, of course, he can feed on the food of everlasting life.

Whatever analogy we would like to use, it is necessary to purify the caverns of our memory so that it can become resplendent with the light of love of Christ and indeed fulfill its purpose of being a sanctuary for His holy presence and living truth.

Fr. Herald J. Brock, CFR
Local Servant, Convento San Serafin, Comayagua, Honduras

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