2.Timothy 2,8-15

To move forward in the Christian life, we must remember three things: our first encounter with Jesus, those who have given us faith, and the Lord’s law of love written in our hearts.

Christian memory is like salt for our lives.

It means returning to the memory so that we can meet Christ, discover strength, and move forward. The Christian mind is like salt of the earth. We cannot move forward without memory. When we meet Christians without memory, we quickly see that they have lost the taste of the Christian life and ended up as persons fulfilling the commandments but without mysticism, without meeting Jesus Christ. And we must meet Jesus Christ in our lives.

Remember the first encounters with Jesus.

There are three ways to meet Jesus Christ: in the early moments of faith, in our ancestors, and in the Lord’s law. The letter to the Hebrews shows us how, saying, “Remember the first days after your conversion,” when you were so enthusiastic … Each of us has moments of meeting Jesus. There were two or three moments in our lives when Jesus approached us; he made himself known. Don’t forget these moments—we must return to them and revive them, for they are inspiring moments of meeting Jesus Christ.

Each of us has such moments—moments of meeting Jesus Christ when we changed our lives, when the Lord revealed our vocation, and when the Lord visited us in a difficult moment. We carry these moments in our hearts. Let’s look for them. Let’s contemplate these moments. Memories of the moments when I met Jesus Christ, and when Jesus Christ met me, are the source of the Christian journey through life; they are the source that gives me strength. Do I remember those moments when I met Jesus, and he promised me something that changed my life? If we don’t know them, let’s look for them. Each of us has them.

Remember those who have given us faith.

The second way to meet Jesus is to remember the ancestors whom Hebrews calls “our superiors who preached the word of God to us.” In the Letter to Timothy, Paul also urges, “Remember your mother and grandmother who gave you faith.” We did not receive our faith by mail; it was passed on to us by men and women. The Letter to the Hebrews states: “Look at the multitude of witnesses who have suffered martyrdom and take strength from them.

Do I have roots, or do I live in the present?

When the waters of life flourish, the question must be asked: am I returning in memory to our superiors, to my ancestors? Am I a man or a woman with roots? Or have I become uprooted? Do I live only in the present? If so, we must immediately beg for grace to return to our roots, to those who have given us faith.

The memory of the law of love inscribed in our hearts

And third, Jesus reminds us in today’s passage from the Gospel of Mark (12, 28b-34) of the law of love. The law of the Lord must be remembered. He is a gesture of love. The Lord created it for us to show us the way—he told us, “You are not wrong in this way. It is necessary to return to the Fa in memory. But not to the cold law, which seems to be just legal; it’s illegal. It is the law of love, the law that the Lord has placed in our hearts. But I am faithful to the law; do I remember it? Do I repeat it? We Christians, and even consecrated ones, sometimes have difficulty replicating the commandments by heart: “Yes, yes, I remember them,” but then at some point, I make a mistake, and I no longer remember.

Remembering is to go back for progress.

Remembering Jesus Christ means having a “fixed gaze on the Lord” in those moments of my life when I met him, in moments of trial, in my ancestors, and in the law. And remembering is not just going back. Remembering means going back so I can move forward. Memory and hope go together. They are complementary; they complement each other. “Remember Jesus Christ, the Lord who came, paid for us, and who is yet to come—the Lord of Remembrance, the Lord of Hope.

May the Lord help us in memory and in hope.

Each of us can stop for a few minutes today to ask ourselves what it is like to remember the moments when I met the Lord, my ancestors, and the Fa. And also, “How is it with my hope—what do I hope? May the Lord help us in our quest for memory and desire.