Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve
Apostles described several appropriate ways to remember the Lord while renewing
our covenants through the sacrament:
"If remembering is the principal task before us, what
might come to our memory when those plain and precious emblems are offered to
us?
We could remember the Savior’s premortal life and all that
we know him to have done as the great Jehovah, creator of heaven and earth and
all things that in them are. We could remember that even in the Grand Council
of Heaven he loved us and was wonderfully strong, that we triumphed even there
by the power of Christ and our faith in the blood of the Lamb (see Rev.
12:10–11).
We could remember the simple grandeur of his mortal birth to
just a young woman, one probably in the age range of those in our Young Women
organization, who spoke for every faithful woman in every dispensation of time
when she said, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy
word” (Luke 1:38).
We could remember his magnificent but virtually unknown
foster father, a humble carpenter by trade who taught us, among other things,
that quiet, plain, unpretentious people have moved this majestic work forward
from the very beginning, and still do so today. If you are serving almost
anonymously, please know that so, too, did one of the best men who has ever
lived on this earth.
We could remember Christ’s miracles and his teachings, his
healings and his help. We could remember that he gave sight to the blind and
hearing to the deaf and motion to the lame and the maimed and the withered.
Then, on those days when we feel our progress has halted or our joys and views
have grown dim, we can press forward steadfastly in Christ, with unshaken faith
in him and a perfect brightness of hope (see 2 Ne. 31:19–20).
We could remember that even with such a solemn mission given
to him, the Savior found delight in living; he enjoyed people and told his
disciples to be of good cheer. He said we should be as thrilled with the gospel
as one who had found a great treasure, a veritable pearl of great price, right
on our own doorstep. We could remember that Jesus found special joy and
happiness in children and said all of us should be more like them—guileless and
pure, quick to laugh and to love and to forgive, slow to remember any offense.
We could remember that Christ called his disciples friends,
and that friends are those who stand by us in times of loneliness or potential
despair. We could remember a friend we need to contact or, better yet, a friend
we need to make. In doing so we could remember that God often provides his
blessings through the compassionate and timely response of another. For someone
nearby we may be the means of heaven’s answer to a very urgent prayer.
We could—and should—remember the wonderful things that have come
to us in our lives and that “all things which are good cometh of Christ” (Moro.
7:24). Those of us who are so blessed could remember the courage of those
around us who face more difficulty than we, but who remain cheerful, who do the
best they can, and trust that the Bright and Morning Star will rise again for
them—as surely he will do (see Rev. 22:16).
On some days we will have cause to remember the unkind
treatment he received, the rejection he experienced, and the injustice—oh, the
injustice—he endured. When we, too, then face some of that in life, we can
remember that Christ was also troubled on every side, but not distressed;
perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not
destroyed (see 2 Cor. 4:8–9).
When those difficult times come to us, we can remember that
Jesus had to descend below all things before he could ascend above them, and
that he suffered pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind that he
might be filled with mercy and know how to succor his people in their
infirmities (see D&C 88:6; Alma 7:11–12).
To those who stagger or stumble, he is there to steady and
strengthen us. In the end he is there to save us, and for all this he gave his
life. However dim our days may seem they have been darker for the Savior of the
world.
In fact, in a resurrected, otherwise perfected body, our
Lord of this sacrament table has chosen to retain for the benefit of his
disciples the wounds in his hands and his feet and his side—signs, if you will,
that painful things happen even to the pure and perfect. Signs, if you will,
that pain in this world is not evidence that God doesn’t love you. It is the
wounded Christ who is the captain of our soul—he who yet bears the scars of
sacrifice, the lesions of love and humility and forgiveness.
Those wounds are what he invites young and old, then and
now, to step forward and see and feel (see 3 Ne. 11:15; 3 Ne. 18:25). Then we
remember with Isaiah that it was for each of us that our Master was “despised
and rejected … ; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53:3). All
this we could remember when we are invited by a kneeling young priest to
remember Christ always. (in Conference
Report, Oct. 1995, 90-91; or Ensign, Nov. 1995, 68-69).
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