Remembering and Giving Thanks

The other day, three friends that I had grown up with came over from Milwaukee to have lunch with me.  We had great fun reminiscing about those days.  Two of them are now married, soon to celebrate their wedding anniversary.  We met up at our class reunion – itself an event!!  The old place isn’t what it once was, which I guess is how life evolves… 

We laughed about our teachers, the rules of the institution and the antics of kids in our class.  And we showed each other pictures.  (One of them accompanies this article.  That’s me, the youngest of the three, with my mom about two years after my dad died.)

Remembering is an important activity.   We need to do it so we can dwell in who we once were, giving thanks that we have become the person we are.  Remembering is what we do at every gathering of believers when we read the stories of our common past in the scriptures.  And giving thanks is what believers do at every Eucharist.  

What I’ve discovered is that remembering with friends is important and can remind us of our ultimate identity as a believer.

When you remember the person you have become, who do you discover?

Ruth Poochigian, O.P.

Madison WI