Ghostly
Counsel
Remembrance
Andy Hawes is Warden of
Edenham Regional Retreat House
‘Remember’ is a frequent command in Scripture. The people of Israel were
commanded to remember that ‘you were once slaves in Egypt’ and to remember too
that with ‘an outstretched arm’ the Lord had brought them to freedom and the
Promised Land. Through Moses they were commanded to ‘remember of the decrees and
ordinances’ of the Covenant and that they were to remember them on rising and
going to bed and even write them on the door posts of their houses. Jesus
transposed the Passover meal into a different register of meaning in order that
the Eucharistic offering should be a ‘perpetual remembering of his precious
death until he comes again.’
The corporate remembrance of the community of faith enables it to live in
communion with God and also in unity of life and purpose. It is this sharing of
memory that is essential in order to be disposed to hear and act upon the Word
of God. Remembering is also vital in our individual pilgrimage of faith. In the
same way as the will and work of God is seen in the life of the people of God,
the will and work of God is also revealed in each person’s faith history. One of
the important functions of spiritual direction is to enable an individual to
cherish their own experience of the love and mercy of God. It is a way of
remembering this Word of God: ‘I have called you by name and you are mine.’
In truth, our chief resource in the spiritual life is our own experience. There
is no such thing as second-hand spirituality. The one-to-one relationship with a
prayer guide or spiritual director is one that enables a discovery and
assessment of this experience.
There is a tendency for individuals to discount, or at least not fully accept,
the validity or veracity of their own experience. Sadly many Christians do not
fully recognize the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives because they have
never been able to share the experience and thereby both test it and learn from
it.
‘An experience without reflection is a wasted experience’ may be an apocryphal
saying of St Ignatius but it does sum up his wisdom. For Ignatius, reflecting on
and discussing one’s experience of prayer and meditation are essential
activities. The recording of experience and reflection on it was, of course, one
of the functions of so many ‘spiritual letters’. There is a hint of this even in
the Pauline Epistles, but the letters of Christians from Augustine to C.S. Lewis
all contain a recounting of experience and subsequent reflection. It would
appear that the ‘Blogosphere’ has not become a substitute for this medium,
although it does come close to ‘spiritual journaling’. I, for one, keep a short
record of both moments and light and darkness in my prayer life. The memory is
the essential gift of God to direct and encourage us on our faith journey, but
it often needs some help, as Scripture at every turn reminds us.