DECEMBER 9
When everything is dark, when we are surrounded by des-
pairing voices, when we do not see any exits, then we can
find salvation in a remembered love, a love which is not
simply a recollection of a bygone past but a living force
which sustains us in the present. Through memory, love
transcends the limits of time and offers hope at any moment
of our lives.
—HENRI NOUWENI remember, as an adolescent, watching a Catholic friend
“say” her rosary beads—touching each in turn while saying
the prescribed prayer. I was intrigued and puzzled—this
expression of faith was far from my free church Protestant
heritage in which we did nothing by rote except murmur
the Lord’s Prayer each Sunday.
But the image of precious beads on a string has stayed
with me, and I sometimes think of treasured memories in
this way. The time my husband and I had just started dating
and I told him I was going to a distant city and he thought
I meant for good; the look on his face when he said, “I’m
sorry to hear that,” is a memory I have treasured for more
than forty years. Or the time my daughter expressing her
pride in a poem I had written, asked, “Can I take it to school
and show it to my teacher?”
The love emanating from my memories is eternal.