Consider the difference in the terms memorable and unforgettable. There are people, places and experiences that impress us so greatly we choose to remember them. We cherish, even nurture, our recollection of them. They are memorable. Others impress us in ways we may choose not to recall. However, try as we might, they are inexpungible from our memory. Whether we like it or not, they are unforgettable.
Is awareness of the Divine Presence memorable or unforgettable? Many of us choose to live lives that, consciously or unconsciously, resonate in some way with the Shema, the ancient Jewish prayer: “Hear, O Israel: the Lord is our God; the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and all your soul, and with all your means”. For these, the awareness of the Divine is memorable. We choose to retain it in our memory’s heart.
Others of us, like the fugitive in Francis Thompson’s poem “The Hound of Heaven” cannot, in spite of our efforts to do so, escape this awareness of the Divine – dim as it may be – for it is unforgettable. Though we try to obscure it with the white noise of worldly distractions, we fail to be entirely free of it. We may pride ourselves in the seductive belief that our lives are successful with no deference to the Divine, but at some point we risk discovering that we are like the refugee ‘hounded by heaven’ who flees the ineluctable voice of the Almighty: “From those strong Feet that followed after./But with unhurrying chase,/And unperturbed pace,/ Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,/ They beat – and a Voice beat/More instant than the Feet-? ‘All things betray thee, who betrayest Me.’”
Since the creation of our proto-parents and through the ensuing millennia, God has continually communicated his desire that we be reinstated in the community of his presence. The overture of his love is as persistent as it is unavoidable. It is to be shared by all, the ‘rich and poor’, the ‘high and low’ and especially the ‘bruised reeds and smoldering wicks’ among us. Those of us inclined to do so attempt to suppress it as we allow the siren songs of secularism to drown his ‘still quiet’ voice. Even so, the vice resounds within us, inaudible as it may be to some. Even those with no religious instruction are gifted with this voice: “For man has in his heart a law inscribed by God. His dignity lies in observing this law, and by it he will be judged. His conscience is man’s most secret core, and his sanctuary. There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths”. (Gaudium et Spes). The voice of God is memorable. The voice of God is unforgettable.
What is the role of philanthropy in the juxtaposition of these two words? Surely, it is memorable – happily so – that those with material and spiritual resources share them with those in need of them. But, there is an unforgettable dimension to philanthropy as well, a dimension that should not and cannot be jettisoned from our consciousness. It is the dimension of human dignity. It is our own dignity that prompts us to recognize the same dignity in others. What forms and animates it is the touch of God’s love – memorable for most, unforgettable for all.
In this life some of us may attempt to run away from the unforgettable. Woe to us! At a time unknown, the unforgettable will become fully memorable – and no longer attainable.