Day 16: Throwback Thursday

Thursdays usually have us looking through old pictures to post on Facebook or Instagram to show our friends where we've been and to bring up good memories.  Perhaps it's an idea we can apply to our spiritual lives.  In my nightstand, I keep the journals that I wrote in while I was in seminary during formation retreats and that I used for personal journaling.  Every now and then I go back and look at where I have been on the spiritual journey.  I look back to the retreats that moved me and shaped me into the priest that  I am today.  I look back on the wisdom of the those retreat masters.  I look back at those key moments that led me to decide to be a priest.  Memory is an important aspect of the spiritual life.  When we are stuck in a rut in our prayer life, it's always good to recall a moment that we felt close to God.  It could've come during a retreat or a Mass or it could be a spiritual song that lifts us up and takes us back to that key moment.  Memory is crucial.  We use it during the celebration of the Mass as the priest says after consecration: "Therefore we celebrate the memorial of his Death and Resurrection..."  We recall that Jesus did for us when we celebrate Mass, and also offer him up as the spotless Victim once again.

So if you are stuck in a spiritual or prayerful rut, today is as good a day as any to go back and look at an old journal or recall a spiritual experience where you felt close to God.  It's remarkable how our memory can move us closer to the Divine.