psalm 103: remembering always God's love - sacred heart 2017

Psalm 103 is a psalm where the psalmist talks to himself, ginasingganan niya ang iya kaugalingon "bless the Lord my soul, all my being, bless his holy name." Why is the psalmist talking to himself, why is he telling himself to do this and to do that?  Why?  Because he often forgets.  He often forgets God and what God has done in his life.  In fact the whole psalm is about remembering, it is about not forgetting.  And forgetting is the quintessential sin of Israel – they easily forget that the Lord loves them and cares for them.

Let us try to look into our memory.  We are the only creature who makes so much fuss about our memory.  Of course, there are animal species which have memories of some sort.  An elephant, especially the matriarch, has a long-term memory about sources of food and water especially during scarcity.  A whale has a memory of the fastest, safest food-rich routes in the vast ocean as they travel thousands of miles.  A dog has a memory that makes it recognize the scent of a long-parted friend or enemy.  Our memory as human beings, however, are much more complicated.  We have regrets because of past experiences and bad memories.  We write books to catalogue our collective memories for posterity so that others will remember, so that others will not forget. We read them, we even study them in schools, we share them at table, we talk about them on the playground, or proclaim them solemnly in the mass.  In fact we have rituals and festivals to recall, to reenact and to celebrate our memories.

And though remembering occupies much of our time, we actually forget a lot of things, and others we even choose to forget – bad experiences, traumas, sufferings and hurtful memories we choose to keep in a vault, a vault which we call the subconscious, suppressed memories too painful to remember.  And many times these memories come out in our fears, in our anger, in our nightmares, in our hurts, in our lack of self-esteem. 
And so the psalmist encourages himself - Forget not his benefits, He pardons all your iniquities, God heals all your ills.  He redeems your life from destruction, crowns you with kindness and compassion. 

A month before my mother died I asked her in the ICU if she can still remember me, ma, sin-o ako?  She looked at me and said, Ikaw si Fr. Butch.  And so I told her, Ma I am not Fr. Butch, ako si Fr. Andy. But she insisted.

The same thing happened to my sister when my mother asked her name, and when she told her name, my mother told her, you know I also have a daughter by that name.  That lunch I was alone eating at the cafeteria of Doctor's hospital and spontaneously, just all of a sudden, I cried.  My mother can no longer remember. A big part of her had already died.

Today we celebrate a very important collective memory – we remember the love of God for us symbolized and personified by the love of Jesus.  We remember a love that is merciful and gracious – a love that will always forgive, a love that will always seek our good even if we don't deserve such love.  Today we remember the cross.  We should not forget. We should pray our morning, our midday and evening prayers.  We should go to confession.  These schedules help us remember, and put to mind always the memory of Jesus and his love for us.