To remember is to relive the moment
Before the existence of cameras in smartphones, there were digital cameras. And even before those digital cameras, there were cameras that had to had a film inserted to capture the image. Some cameras also needed a cube, which was inserted to provide the flash. That cube lasted 4 takes maximum. Once the roll was finished, with 12, 24 or 36 shots, it had to be taken to a place to have the pictures developed. Where I remember my dad taking them to develop were some Kodak brand stores, where in addition to developing the photos, they sold cameras, film and all kinds of accessories.
The development process was not instantaneous, we had to wait several days. Sometimes I went with my dad to pick up the pictures. There was always a line of people waiting for his turn, and I felt impatient to see the images.
Since each roll had a limited number of shots, getting ready to take a photo was an event in and of itself, at least in my house. My mom liked everything to look magazine like. Hairstyles, clean clothes, smiling, and intentionally turning to the camera. Since there was no way to know if the moment had been captured “well,” we had to trust that we were all smiling and facing the camera.
It wasn’t until we took the pictures out of the yellow envelope that we discovered that someone was not facing the camera, that someone had their eyes closed (almost always my mom), that someone was picking their nose, or that the picture was taken a little before or after everyone was ready.
Seeing the pictures, then became an experience of laughter, criticism, complaints about how one appeared because the person who took the photo didn’t properly count down. Even cracking up because the moment captured in the picture was funny.
It was at that time that I clearly understood Kodak’s slogan, “To remember is to relive the moment.”
We had some family photo albums, which we filled as we took some photos. On the different pages, you could see the time progression according to my brother and my age. In the first pages, we looked tiny compared to the last ones. Personally, I found great joy and tenderness when our photos were from when we were babies. Every time we took out the album, my mom would recount the moment the photo was taken.
It was in the act of sharing, talking about the moments in which the pictures were taken, where the experience from the images came to life again.
What is it that you and I talk about, or share with others most often? What is the experience, with or without picture, that we “bring to life” by sharing it?
There was a couple of friends who, without realizing it at the time, encountered the resurrected Jesus. They shared some time together, talked, listened, and even had dinner with him. Once they realized that this stranger was Jesus, these couple of friends went to share this experience with the disciples, and, surprise! Jesus appears to them again.
It seems that Jesus took Kodak’s slogan to a whole new level. As the friends remembered and recounted their experiences, they literally relived the moment.
What is it that you and I repeat to ourselves most frequently? What is it that each of us re-live by telling it over and over again?
The disciples shared and relived the experience. Jesus appears to them, offering wisdom, and perhaps more importantly, perspective. Jesus explains the scriptures, opens their understanding. It is then that perhaps for the disciples, everything takes another meaning.
The past gave them perspective, offering new meaning in their present, and giving them new direction for their future.
When each one of us shares something that happened to us, what are we left with? Nostalgia, perspective? Something else?
The fact that He appeared to them at that moment is perhaps an invitation for them to stay in the present. And maybe it’s an invitation for us too.
There is a great treasure in remembering, and in reliving. What do we want to “live again”?
Whatever it is, it seems that Jesus invites us to also be in the present. What better way than sharing food, nourishing the body, sharing, listening and receiving our stories.
What do you want to live again? What do you want to remember?
Some time ago someone told me that the word remember in Spanish, recordar, comes from the Latin, (re) pass again, (cordis) through the heart.
What has already happened in your life, and today you want to pass through your heart again?
Is there anything that Jesus the carpenter invites you to “pass through your heart” again? If there is someone who knows about life, it is Jesus, may it be with Him that you “remember.”
Marisol
P.S. We can hear the story of when Jesus appeared again to a couple of friends in the readings of the III Sunday of Easter, year / cycle B.
