For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.
-1 Corinthians 11:23-26
This past weekend, I had two opportunities to return to my alma mater, Benedictine High School, for celebratory events. Additionally, I edged my lawn for the second time in the past three weeks. Finally, yesterday's gospel reading, from Matthew 10, included a line from the gospel on the Feast of St. Barnabas, which took on special meaning during a meeting with leaders last Thursday (Mt. 10:5-8)
Jesus said to the Twelve: "As you go, make this proclamation: 'The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give."
At first glance, these three occurrences have little in common. However, all three afforded opportunities for repetition. And, these repetitions allowed me to clearly remember my Benedictine formation, literally becoming a member again of the Benedictine way: ora et labora (prayer and work). These repetitions allowed me to more clearly define the limits of my yard and keep the sidewalk path clear from overgrowth of grass and earth. These repetitions clearly illuminated a message Jesus needed me to hear - I am an apostle sent out on mission to do His work. Go do it.
Repetition stands as the mother of all learning. Good readers re-read. Fluency with math facts results from repetitive drills. Nailing a speech happens after challenging ourselves to remember the order, flow, and main points. Musical performances, dance routines, hitting a baseball, creating a piece of art rise to new levels of excellence when we practice and practice and practice and practice and practice.
Repeating our efforts to clarify the identities of our organizations (similar to edging more frequently than I typically edge) helps to eliminate and keep away the creep of bad habits, loose policies, and ways in which our behaviors misalign from our mission and beliefs/pillars/values/charisms. Much like the impact of brushing and flossing our teeth daily as opposed to less frequently, clarifying and reclarifying and overcommunicating who we are and how we behave makes it more likely for our communities to remember what's expected. Edging a second time took significantly less time and effort than my first go and it looked significantly better.
Finally, opportunities to remember our foundation - my time in Catholic education started in at Benedictine High School and I've been in Catholic education ever since - help us to become members again of those ideals and values. Reunions, halls of honor, and retelling the stories of our heroes and pivotal points of our schools' histories brings us back to these pivotal moments of our lives, clearly reminding us again what we value, what we believe, and why we do what we do.
As often as we need to, let us remember, clearly, again.
