Remembering

Gospel: John 16: 20-23

Life is filled with disappointment and sadness.  There is not a single human life that is without them; they cannot be avoided.  The challenge in life is learning how to deal with them over time.  A healthy person faces difficulty by facing it directly, while there are a host of unhealthy approaches that range from avoidance to transference to outright denial.  

One way to deal with disappointment and sadness is through remembering as today's reading suggests.  It is important what remember as much as it is important that we remember.  We can hold grudges and remember only negative things in life while neglecting the memories of happiness and joy.  By contrast, we can only remember the good things and neglect the remembrance of things that were painful and difficult.  

The scriptures continually remind us to remember, and the collection of scripture is itself a memory of a people and its journey of faith with God.  The scriptures remember the good and the bad, the painful and the joyful, the disappointment and the rewarding.  That fact is a lesson for us in our life to remember all these things and to find God's presence within all of it, seeking meaning for ourselves as we journey through life to the reign of God.