“Stained Glass Window (Detail),” c. 1902-1915, Louis Comfort Tiffany. Image from a page of the 2013 Desk Calendar, courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art Store
Do This In Remembrance of Me…Those words of comfort and instruction convey such power to me when I hear them…
“In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.'” 1 Corinthians 11:25
“Do this in remembrance of me.” Whenever I participate in the rite of Holy Communion, I cannot help but to imagine the intensity of emotions that must have blanketed Jesus and his twelve disciples during their last Passover supper together on that unforgettable evening, so long ago. The closest that I can come to even touching the surface of that kind of heaviness, is during the last few months before my late husband, Stephen, passed on to be with our Lord. Each day leading up to his physical death was filled with a certain bittersweetness that I’d never tasted before. As with the weight of impending sorrow and loss looming over the disciples on that solemn night, I often felt a dark hollowness that threatened to swallow my hope and joy as I watched my dear one deteriorate before my eyes. Although for them that night was distressing, and my heart ached continuously during those final weeks, what followed for them and what is still being revealed to me, makes being able to look back and remember those times so remarkable.
Jesus knew what was to follow within the next several hours between the time he broke bread and savored the wine that he shared with his beloved followers and the suffering that he would endure before prevailing in his glorious triumph over death. He knew the sweetness that would overshadow so perfectly the bitterness that had to come first. I believe that my husband knew too, that his suffering and discomfort was not in vain. Jesus, his Lord and Savior had never failed him, and it was evident to me that Stephen’s confidence in knowing that he never would, grew stronger each day. Remembering how faithful our Lord had been to him in the past, so kindled the flame of hope, that my husband bathed in a serenity that carried him through to that very moment when he met Jesus face to face.
“Do this in remembrance of me.” Those words of comfort and instruction, spoken by Jesus to his disciples, convey such power to me when I hear them now. They seem to echo an overwhelming sense of sacrificial love through to my soul as I eat the bread and drink the wine that is served at communion. As the disciples commemorated what Jesus did for all mankind in those early days of the Church, I have the beautiful memory of seeing in action, who and what Jesus was to Stephen…and Jesus is still all of that to me.
May you pause and remember the profoundness of what took place on this day so many years ago. Take the time to remember what our Lord Jesus Christ did in sacrificing his own life for each one of us. And, if you haven’t already, may you accept him into your heart that you too may receive what he has freely given…the gift of eternal salvation.
God’s peace to you,
Felecia
