In Remembrance of Me

 

This picture is a detail from DaVinci's Last Supper. It was painted on a wall which turned out to be too moist and the painting is fading away.
At his last supper with his apostles Jesus gave them and us something more permanent to remember him by. In his First Letter to the Corinthians, written about 57 A.D., well before the Gospels, St. Paul tells us, "The Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.'" Each time we celebrate the Lord's Supper Jesus is present with us in a much more vivid way than in the most enduring painting.
I read this passage first thing this morning and soon found myself singing an old love song:
O give me something to remember you by
When you are far away from me.
Some little something meaning love cannot die,
No matter where you chance to be.
Then later in the morning I found a sort of poem called "Friends Meeting" by Michael Moynahan. It ends,
So now it comes down to this: leave-taking.
What to say? What to do?
So much to say, So much to do.
All poured into this last parting gesture:
a sign, a prayer.
Relying on memory's gift
and on what a transformed meal can possibly recall
celebrated miles and years from here and now
with people gathered in his name.