Grace Notes: A memory for wonders

By SISTER ANNE MARIE WALSH, SOLT
Columnist
 
Most of us, when we think about growth in the spiritual life, focus on healing our wounds—specific memories of pain, regret or trauma. That work is important. But there is something deeper that often goes unnoticed: not just our memories but our memory itself needs healing.
 
In the Christian understanding of the human person, the soul has three primary faculties: the intellect, the will and the memory. We are used to hearing about the need to form our intellect and strengthen our will. But the memory—quiet, constant and powerful—is often overlooked. Yet it plays a decisive role in our relationship with God.
 
St. John of the Cross teaches that these three faculties are healed and elevated by the theological virtues. Faith purifies the intellect, allowing us to see reality as God sees it. Charity perfects the will, enabling us to love as God loves. And hope—perhaps the most neglected of the three—purifies the memory.
 
That might sound surprising at first. What does hope have to do with memory?
 
To understand this, we need to recognize what memory really does. Memory is not just a storage system for past events. It also assigns meaning and emotional weight to what we have experienced. Over time, especially in our fallen condition, our memory tends to cling more tightly to what is painful, embarrassing or negative. Even when good things happen, they often fade quickly, while wounds linger.
 
This imbalance affects our spiritual lives more than we realize. Many of our temptations, discouragements and fears are rooted in what we carry in memory—past pleasures we long to repeat, past hurts we cannot let go of, past sins we continue to relive. In this sense, memory can either support our growth in holiness or quietly undermine it.
 
This is where hope enters in.
 
Christian hope is not wishful thinking. As Pope Francis has said, it is the confident expectation of what God has already promised. It is rooted in the certainty of God’s faithfulness and the reality of eternal life. And when we begin to live in that hope, something remarkable happens: our memory starts to change.
 
St. John of the Cross says that a purified memory should be filled not with the clutter of past wounds, but with what he calls “presentiments of eternal glory.” In other words, our memory becomes oriented toward what God is preparing for us, rather than trapped in what has already happened to us.
 
We see a powerful example of this in St. Paul. He endured tremendous suffering—imprisonments, beatings, rejection—but he refused to let those experiences define him. Instead, he writes, “I consider the sufferings of this present time as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed in us.” His memory was not erased, but it was transformed. It no longer held him back; it propelled him forward.  The same can be true for us. 
 
Healing the memory does not mean forgetting the past or pretending it did not matter. It means allowing God to reorder what holds our attention and our attachment. Instead of being dominated by pain, regret or even nostalgia, we begin to remember differently—with hope.
 
There are a few practical ways we can cooperate with this healing. First, we can learn to see everything in the light of eternity. When we are tempted to dwell on something from the past, it is worth asking: does holding onto this help me move toward God, or does it keep me stuck? This simple shift in perspective can begin to loosen the grip of unhealthy memories.
 
Second, we must practice forgiveness—again and again. This includes forgiving others, but also forgiving ourselves. Many people continue to carry sins that have already been absolved in Confession, as if God only covered them instead of removing them completely. But the truth is far greater: when God forgives, He truly takes away sin. To cling to it afterward is not humility—it can actually be a subtle refusal to trust in His mercy.
 
An oft-repeated story from the life of St. Jerome illustrates this beautifully. After completing his great work of translating Scripture, he had a vision of the Christ Child, who asked him for a gift. Jerome offered his work, his prayers, his whole life—but each time, Jesus said, “Give me more.” Finally, when Jerome asked what else he could possibly give, Jesus replied, “Give me your sins.” That is what the Lord desires most—to free us from what we insist on holding onto.
 
Third, we need to intentionally remember the good things of the Lord. Throughout Scripture, one of the recurring failures of God’s people is forgetfulness. Again and again, Israel forgets the wonders God has worked. We are no different. We often overlook grace while replaying our disappointments.
 
Training our memory means deliberately recalling God’s faithfulness: answered prayers, strength given in times of difficulty, unexpected moments of peace and the quiet ways he has guided our lives. Over time, this reshapes the “default setting” of our memory.
 
Finally, we must actively exercise hope. This can be as simple as returning to the promises of God: that he is with us, that he is at work in all things, that suffering is not the final word, and that eternal life awaits those who love him. The more we dwell on these truths, the more our memory is lifted out of discouragement and anchored in something unshakable.
 
St. Paul gives us a practical guideline for this transformation: “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious… think about these things” (Philippians 4:8). 
 
This is not denial of reality; it is a disciplined reorientation of the heart. Shaughnessy, K. (2021). With Hope and Gratitude. When the memory is healed by hope, we become freer—freer from resentment, freer from shame, freer from the constant pull of the past. And in that freedom, we become more available to God.
 
St. John of the Cross once lamented, “O souls created for such wonders, how are you spending your time?” It is a question worth taking seriously. We are made not to live trapped in yesterday, but to be drawn into the glory God has prepared for us.
 
Perhaps that is what it means to have “a memory for wonders”: not a memory that forgets, but a memory that has been transformed—one that no longer binds us to the past but opens us to the future God is already preparing.
 
Questions for Reflection
1. When you look back over your life, which kinds of memories tend to dominate—wounds, regrets, or moments of grace—and how might God be inviting you to “remember differently” with hope?
2. Are there particular sins or failures you continue to revisit, even after Confession, and what would it mean to “give Jesus your sins” as St. Jerome was invited to do?
3. In what concrete ways could you begin to “remember the good things of the Lord” each day—perhaps by calling to mind one sign of God’s faithfulness or one “wonder” He has done?
4. How might you apply Philippians 4:8 by choosing, when a painful memory surfaces, to turn your mind toward whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and worthy of praise?