December 8, 2024
None of us like to be forgotten. Yet all of us have had some experience of what it’s like, even if it was only on an occasion. It may be that we weren’t invited to some event, or our contribution to some work wasn’t recognized, or our birthday was forgotten. Here we’re talking just about being omitted or passed over. But even that can be very painful, for it means to be ignored, to be treated as if you were of no significance.
There is another kind of forgetting. When people forget all about us, this is a far deeper and more painful thing. We feel that we don’t matter anymore. That no one cares about us. It’s as if we didn’t exist. We feel we’ve been not just forgotten but abandoned. It’s worse if we are victims of false promises: ‘I’ll be in touch, I’ll write, I’ll call again,’ and so on.
Once there was a wonderful priest who was admired and loved by his fellow priests and by the parishioners of the parishes he had served. However, this fine priest developed a serious medical condition which forced him to retire from active ministry and enter a nursing home. He spent the rest of his life there, confined to a wheelchair.
At first, he had a stream of visitors. But as the years went by, the stream was reduced to a trickle, and in time even that dried up. Now he was on his own. Not a card, letter, or phone-call. Absolutely nothing. Just a great silence, and a great emptiness. He found it very painful, especially in view of the fact that he had given so much to others.
Then one day he received a visit from a priest who had been a classmate of his. He was delighted to see him, and they talked for a long time. But then at a certain point, he turned to his visitor and said, ‘Do you think anyone remembers me?’ I don’t know what reply the visitor gave him. What reply could he give?
No, it’s not nice to be forgotten. It is extremely painful. We may feel like that about God too. Something bad may have happened to us, so we think, ‘God has forgotten me.’ This leads to the feeling that God doesn’t care about us, that he doesn’t love us anymore.
That’s how God’s people felt at the time the prophet Baruch was writing (second century BC). Their kingdom had fallen. The holy city, Jerusalem, had been destroyed. The beautiful temple had been reduced to rubble. Their sons and daughters had been taken into exile. So they asked themselves: “Where is God? What has become of his promises?” And they concluded that God had forgotten them.
But the prophet assured them that God had not forgotten them. He told them that their sorrows would soon end. God would bring their sons and daughters back from exile. He would level out a highway to facilitate their return. And there would be a great restoration. So the people took heart. The exiles did indeed come back. However, God’s promise was not completely fulfilled until the coming of Jesus.
And we too can take heart. Even though we may forget God, God does not forget us. Advent reminds us of the wonderful promises God made to us, and shows how they are fulfilled in Jesus. The great sign we have that God loves us is the fact that he sent his Son to us. John the Baptist was the one who announced the good news of his coming.
No, God has not forgotten us. God remembers us. Even if everyone else were to forget us, God will not forget us. It’s icredible to be remembered, even if only in a small way. It’s a sign that someone cares about us. God cares about us. We matter to him, because we are his precious daughters and sons.
Since we like to be remembered by others, we have a duty also to remember others, especially those who have been good to us, and who have sacrificed themselves for us. Christmas is a great time for remembering people. One small way we can do it is through a simple card with a few words that come from the heart.