Memory is a secret, a powerful secret that makes you willing (or sometimes involuntarily) to pause in the midst of busyness, and often feeling hesitant to move forward as the brain is doing “replay” of past memory clips.
I realized this as I recently visited New Norcia – a monastic town of the Benedictine Community. It’s perhaps my 4th or 5th visit there. While spending my afternoon walking around the place there, I was drawn to a recall of a tiny memory of seeing a few guys playing balls at the back of a college-like building. That memory could be dated, I think, back to 2001 where we have got a PAC 3-congregation combined youth camp. I have no idea why that moment of the guys ball-playing so vivid in my mind, but it’s just there stuck firmly in my brain. Then more memories came to “show up” concerning some other youth camps I organized and co-organized over the years.
It’s interesting in that afternoon we were supposed to start meditating on the gospel’s parables, but I seemed to have a good time “replaying” all those moments, thoughts, excitements in my mind’s video player. I found out that we all have memories (the good ones and sometimes bad ones) which wouldn’t easily be gone. What amazed me though is as I reflected and gave time that afternoon to thinking about those memories, I feel more intact as a person, and it gives me a sense of wholeness and fulfillment. That’s really interesting, isn’t it? But I don’t understand why. It’s worth exploring …
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