It is good to remember. It is good to remember.
As a people of faith, we cherish the God-given ability to remember. We have a memory of the past events and persons that shaped our lives, our family, our community and even our country. Some of these memories are personal ones that we hold deep within us and others are collective— memories that we share with one another. Some are joyful and others not so joyful. When we remember an event or a person who has touched us deeply we may experience different emotions. For some, the memory is a painful thing and they prefer not to remember. But for us, a people of faith who have been shaped by the events and persons who have gone before us, even painful memories bring continued growth and strength to us.
This reality is certainly true of our religious heritage. In the Old Testament, we know that the people of Israel were charged with one thing as they entered the Promised Land. “Remember all that the Lord your God has done for you!” If the people remembered what God had done in their past and for their ancestors, they would thrive in the land they were about to inherit. But if they forgot; if they strayed from the memory of past events, they would in all likelihood, fail to thrive and grow and be strong.
Of course, this is exactly what happened. We human beings seem to have short memories. The people forgot what God had done for them. They forgot to remember their time of persecution in Egypt; they failed to remember and be thankful for their deliverance through Moses. And as their memories grew dim, so did their relationship with God. Time and time again, God reached out to the people he had planted in the Promised Land. Through the prophets, there is one message that God always spoke to His people, “Remember what I did for you when you were in the land of Egypt!” The prophets exhorted the people not to forget but to remember the past events of their history for in remembering, they would then be grateful to God and remain close to him.
In the first reading from the Prophet Ezekiel, we hear how the prophet is given a vision of dried bones strewn across a valley or plain. These bones represented the disaster that befell Israel at the hands of the Babylonians. The nation lay in ruins. People had been killed or deported and the Temple was no more. Even so, Ezekiel is told to prophecy over the bones and, as he does, the bones begin to come together. Flesh came upon them and then a new spirit was breathed into them so that they came to life. Through this vision, the Lord announced to Ezekiel that the people of Israel would be raised from their destruction and would be returned to their homeland in time and that they would continue to enjoy the favors that God had bestowed upon them. Even though the people failed to remember God; God did not fail to remember his people. That vision is also important to us who, as Christians, believe that it speaks about a time when we will be brought forth from the grave to enjoy the new life of Resurrection. God will not forget us. Even in death, God will remember us and raise us up to a new and glorious life.
It remains true that, even after the time of Israel’s return from Babylon, the most important thing that people could do was to remember their past. They remembered and celebrated the covenant God had made with them on Mt. Sinai. They renewed their commitment to follow the law and to remain close to God. To this day, religious Jews will tell you that the most important aspect of their faith is how well they remember what God has done for them throughout their history.
As Christians, we have inherited from our Jewish brothers and sisters, a sense of importance when it comes to remembering. We, too, remember all that God has done for us in the history of salvation. We remember how, in the fullness of time, God sent his Son who as born unto a virgin. We remember and proclaim his teachings. We celebrate his miracles. We remember how he loved us to the very end as he underwent his holy passion, his crucifixion and his resurrection from the dead. And we remember his promise that we, like him, will rise again, some day, to a new and eternal life.
But I want to tell you that there is more to remembering the works of salvation than simply observing the holy days. There is the act of remembering our human history— the events and the peoples who have preceded us. For, if we believe that God has acted upon us throughout the history of salvation, we must also believe that he continues to be part of the unfolding of our history and will always be present to us acting on our behalf.
That is why so many people of our faith and ancestry have gathered these past few days. It is our collective memory of those who died so tragically during the Armenian genocide that brings us together. We remember this dark and difficult period when over a million martyrs were added to the Christian family. We remember how, at the beginning of the 20th century, our own brothers and sisters shed their blood for their faith and their culture. We remember the violence done to them out of fear, suspicion and hatred. And even though some may choose to forget, we remember that there is still the work of justice to be done in acknowledging the death of so many innocents.
But why do we remember? Is our memory of so many martyrs intended to revisit our sadness? Prolong our grief? Fuel our anger? Increase our desire for vengeance? Of course not.
We remember the genocide because we believe that there is a spiritual truth at work in such an event. We remember that those who died during the genocide gave us a supreme example of faith. And we are inspired and strengthened by their sacrifice.
His Holiness Karekin II and His Holiness John Paul II spoke about the great value of this sacrifice of our Armenian brothers and sisters when, in September 2001, they declared:
“Endowed with great faith, they chose to bear witness to the Truth and accept death when necessary, in order to share eternal life. Martyrdom for the love of Christ thus became a great legacy of many generations of Armenians. The most valuable treasure that one generation could bequeath to the next was fidelity to the Gospel, so that with the grace of the Holy Spirit, the young would become as resolute as their ancestors in bearing witness to the Truth. The extermination of a million and a half Armenian Christians are tragedies that still live in the memory of the present day generation. These innocents who were butchered in vain are not canonized, by many among them were certainly confessors and martyrs for the name of Christ. We pray for the repose of their souls and urge the faithful never to lose sight of the meaning of their sacrifice.”
Therein lies the value of remembering our past and those who have gone before us. We learn, even in tragic moments that the saving light of Christian faith can shine on both the weak and the strong. We learn that in each generation, the faithful must choose between good and evil, darkness and light, humanity and inhumanity, truth and falsehood. We learn that contemporary Christians like you and me are called to bear witness to the Truth even at the risk of paying the ultimate price.
That is why we remember.
Tonight we remember and pray. We remember all of those who are part of the great cloud of witnesses whose robes have been purified in the blood of the Lamb. We pray, in particular, for our Armenian brothers and sisters who live in their historic motherland that they may enjoy prosperity, happiness, independence and peace. We pray for ourselves, asking our Heavenly Father to keep us strong in the apostolic faith that has been purchased by the blood of so many martyrs. We give thanks to our Lord Jesus Christ, whose own paschal mystery has insured for us an everlasting place in His Kingdom where we will be reunited with all who have gone before us. We ask the blessing of the Holy Spirit whose wisdom has guided us through the centuries. May the triune God bless us with peace in this Easter Season.
Amen.