remembering and forgetting

Redemption is somewhere between remembering and forgetting. Remember your great love, O Lord…and forget whatever I say, do or think that is not marked by your goodness.

God is able to remember and forget. I, on the other hand, find it difficult. I forget what I most need to remember and I remember what I most need to forget. Lend me your memory, Lord.

So, God has arranged it: I cannot remember and forget as God does without recollecting God. This is what Jesus means when he says “remember me.” He does not simply mean: “Remember me as you would remember a story or a line of poetry.” He means: “Collect my very self into your very self once again. Let me fuse my divinity with your humanity.” Recollection is more like union than tolerance; it is more like sex than treaty. Here is a good prayer to recollect God: “Thank you for loving us. I love you.”

God loves you. He remembers his image in you and he repairs the mirror we crack. Redemption is somewhere between remembering and forgetting.