Memory and Hope
The Amen Corner – Connecting Liturgy and Life
by Kathy Kuczka
I recently had the opportunity to attend my high school reunion. What a wonderful occasion to walk down memory lane! Our memories were percolating as we recalled the relationships and events that marked those glorious and tumultuous teenage years! Our coming together helped us reconnect to our roots. Even our gathering over dinner gave us the chance to remember the times when sharing a meal brought us together, binding our friendships: cafeteria conversations, post-game pizza parties, sports and band banquets. Our greeting, our meeting and our eating filled us with laughter and joy. Our remembering made us grateful for our school, our experiences and each other. Though we are scattered all around the world now with different lives and relationships, our reuniting helped us remember that we still share many things in common and that we are still one with each other.
Each time we gather for Eucharist, a similar reunion takes place. We come together to share a meal. Our Eucharistic prayer, which forms the heart of our liturgy, helps us to remember our roots as the people of God:
“From age to age, you gather a people to yourself.”
It reminds us of the great deeds God has done for us in Christ:
“Father, calling to mind the death your Son endured for our salvation, his glorious resurrection and ascension into heaven.”
Remembering God’s act of love, we have no choice but to give thanks:
“We thank you for counting us worthy to stand in your presence and serve you”
And, it helps us to remember that despite our differences, our destiny is to become one for the sake of the world:
“Grant that we, who are nourished by his body and blood, may be filled with his Holy Spirit, and become one body, one spirit in Christ… …Lord may this sacrifice which has made our peace with you, advance the peace and salvation of all the world.”
Many words in our Eucharistic Prayers will be changing in the New Roman Missal, but the meaning will remain the same. Let us pray that our remembering will unite us in thanksgiving and hope for the sake of the world. AMEN.
