ANNIVERSARIES.

Anniversaries are very important to us all. If you are still married, for how long now? ( Some may be able to remember this.) If you were ever married, for how long were you married? ( Some may remember this. ) If you have never married you STILL have anniversaries. Not wedding anniversaries, but your own special anniversaries none-the-less. Perhaps you can recall the day you started school, or left school, your graduation as a nurse, teacher, plumber, or whatever job you trained for. You may remember your first day at work or a home you bought, a friendship you made which has lasted for many years. Our church is celebrating its 50 years anniversary this year.........so not only do people have anniversaries but lots of places also do. My school is celebrating its 80th. anniversary this year too. So we ALL have or are involved with anniversaries in our life.It is very important to pause at an anniversary time. It is amazing how time flies by, and sometimes we need to cease, look back and take time to reflect upon the goodness of God and the great achievements we have accomplished in our own lifetime.

Memories are extremely important. Barbra Streisand, a famous singer, sings of "water color memories " which from time to time just have a way of washing over our mind, like a wave lapping over a shell. We have sad anniversaries too, which bring up pain, regret and sadness. The anniversary of my son's sudden death, and of my father passing. This week a close friend passed away. I shall always have memories of these very special people stored gently in my heart, wrapped in tears of gratitude for all we have shared. And on the anniversary of their passing, I shall again pause and take time to think not only of what I have lost, but also with a great sense of privilege to have been able to share part of my life with them, and they with me.

All anniversaries, celebratory or grief-ridden, are important and necessary in helping us to grow up, face reality, accept that life is not just all we hoped for, but then to move on, realising that life is like that for ALL of us. We ALL can remember good and unhappy times. But how much we can learn through the weaving of good and bad, lovely and joyful, pain and loss, birth and separation. These things combine to deeply connect us to each other as the family of man. Don't ever forget your memories. They are imperishable. Every memory shows an accomplishment of who YOU are.....the path YOU have trodden and why you are the unique person God has made.

Jesus talked about memories. He commanded us, in fact, to remember Him, when He went to Heaven. He asked us to remember Him and all He had done every time we ate bread and drank wine. You may go to Mass, Eucharist, Holy Communion, The Lord's Supper. It does not matter what the name is we give it, the important part is that we do this...........we take the bread and we partake of the wine until Jesus comes again, as a time to remember all that Jesus has done for us when He lived and died. Jesus' life, like ours, was not all easy. Jesus had friends and celebrated life joyfully (the marriage at Cana), he went on picnics, had that special journey to the Temple at age 12 ( possibly for his Bar Mitzvah ) but also to celebrate the Passover Feast. Jesus never married so He can also identify with single people. Jesus also had sad, lonely and painful times just as we do. His pain on the Cross was more that anyone of us could ever imagine, so He certainly did not have an easy life.

Today let us remember with thankfulness, all that we have been able to achieve in our lifetimes too. We are all connected in different ways through our memories.............the good, the sad, the fun, the pain................these things unite us all in the family of man. But also, in remembering Jesus in Holy Communion, we remember all God has done for each of us which unites us all in the family of God. So we belong, doubly bound together as members of the family of man and of the family of God.

READING: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26.

(C). 2004. Christine M. Jones.