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Anamnesis – remembering who we truly are
Last night at 
Sister Maxine’s graduation from Catholic Theological Union, Sister Mary Collins, OSB, received an honorary doctorate in theology.
Sister Mary Collins, a Benedictine sister of Mount St. Scholastica in Atchison, Kansas, is one of the premiere liturgical theologians of North American. As a “lecturer, writer, and editor, Mary Collins has been a pioneer figure in the liturgical renewal in the United States since Vatican II. She has attended to critical questions in liturgical theology, language, practice, and spirituality.” (source: CTU honoris causa announcement)
It was a true blessing to see and listen to Sister Mary. It reminded me of a piece she had written a while back on anamnesis, “corporate memory” … on remembering who we truly are.
Anamnesis is biblical language which was long ago taken up by the church and recently recovered as liturgical language…. Anamnesis speaks about a distinctive kind of human remembering. In common speech we are more likely to talk about its opposite, amnesia.
We are familiar with the disorder of clinical amnesia, a diagnosis given to name a memory lapse of a crucial kind. The amnesiac is not the person who has misplaced her glasses one time too many. She is the person who has forgotten who she is. She has lost her conscious awareness of the basic relationships that give her her identity. The amnesiac cannot answer when asked whoa re you? where have you come from? where are you headed? who are your parents? have you any family? where is your home? what kind of work do you do?
“Anamnesis” and “amnesia” come from a common Greek root. The biblical and liturgical use of the word is “anamnesis” rises from a perception that there is a disorder analogous to clinical amnesia that plagues the human community. To be human is to be threatened with spiritual amnesia. At the level of our spiritual identity we do not remember for long who we really are. Those ultimate relationships that give us our spiritual identity slip from consciousness all too easily, and we lapse into noncomprehension about our deepest identity.
(Mary Collins, OSB, Contemplative Participation: Sacrosanctum Concilium, twenty-five years later published by The Liturgical Press, 1990, p. 55)
In celebration and honor of our graduate, Sister Maxine, and all the women and men of Catholic Theological Union who have given their lives to “faith seeking understanding … consider this: What are some of the things that help you remember your deepest identity? What are the relationships in your life that are woven into that identity? How do you return from periods of amnesia?
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an exceptional blog today sr j
My Our Lady of Guadalupe bracelet reminds me of a retreat I went on last November to visit a religious community and reminds me of the bonds I have with Mary and how important they are to me. My relationship with my Grandma Jeanette is very much woven into who I am. Being raised by a GrandMom from a totally different time than most parents of kids around me has given me a different way of thinking about my own identity: as Granddaughter, daughter, sister, and most importantly: someone loved. My amnesia periods are when I feel the loss of God from within me, and the things that bring me back are scripture and family.
the ocean–sound, smell, sight–helps me recall my true identity, but i haven’t been near a beach in 17 years. music, thankfully, brings the same experience. however, i cannot just listen; i must sing. if i sing with other people it is even more evocative of the deepest me. i haven’t done this lately, either. i think i might be missing.
except writing is still here. writing allows me to breathe and be my authentic self even when the other options aren’t readily available to me.
Walking on one of the Caminos to Santiago… the dust on the Way, the wide open spaces, the green wheat undulating in the wind, the vineyards heavy with grapes… Jesus walking up and down Galilee, inviting me to follow Him…
Now I have to find Sr. Mary Collins’ book…
Thank you.