Episode Transcript  

One

Forgetting

Do you remember all God did for the Israelites when He set them free from Egypt? The ten miraculous plagues, the death of the firstborn, crossing the Red Sea on dry ground, and Pharaoh’s army destroyed. Not to mention water from a rock, bread from heaven every day, on and on and on. 

This is exactly what happened to Israel after God set them free from Egypt.

But then Israel forgets God and His saving deeds, they immediately want to go back to Egypt, back to what was familiar and comfortable. They remember the food, but they forget the chains. They grumble in the wilderness. They worship the golden calf at Sinai. They put God to the test at Massah and Meribah, demanding that He prove Himself. Then, just as Israel is camped on the plains of Moab, directly across the Jordan from the Promised Land, literally on the threshold of going in, they fall into sexual immorality and ritual prostitution. And Moses tells them to go into the Promised Land, but they refuse. They are completely dominated by fear. They refuse to enter, not because God has failed, but because they no longer trust Him.

So by their own doing, they wander for forty years in the desert. Not because God abandoned them, but because they forgot Him and all that He had done for them. When we forget God and all He has done for us, it becomes far easier to fall into sin, complaining, fear, anger, overindulgence, and just plain spiritual laziness. Forgetfulness erodes trust. And once trust erodes, everything else follows.

Two

Remembering

After forty years of wandering in the desert, Moses prepares Israel to enter the Promised Land once again. But before they do, he must teach them the lesson of the Exodus and how not to repeat the same failure. That teaching is the book of Deuteronomy.

In Deuteronomy 8, Moses teaches Israel, saying, “Remember how Yahweh your God led you for forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, to test you and know your inmost heart—whether you would keep his commandments or not. He humbled you, he made you feel hunger, he fed you with manna… to make you understand that man does not live on bread alone, but on everything that comes from the mouth of Yahweh.”

Their clothes did not wear out. Their feet did not swell. God trained them as a father trains his child. Moses then describes the land they are about to receive, a land of abundance, fertility, and prosperity. And precisely because it is a good land, Moses issues a warning, “Take care you do not forget Yahweh your God… When you have eaten and had all you want… do not become proud of heart. Do not say in your heart, ‘My own strength and the might of my own hand have won this power for me.’ Remember Yahweh your God: it was he who gave you this strength.”

Moses knows the danger. Prosperity tempts us to forget. Success breeds pride. And pride always leads back to idolatry. So he repeats the lesson relentlessly: You were slaves, and God set you free. Forget God and you will become slaves again.

Three

Why Remembering Is Essential

Why is remembering so important? Because sin flows from forgetfulness, and faithfulness flows from memory.

Moses knows Israel is about to enter a land of both prosperity and battle. Both environments are spiritually dangerous. So he commands them again and again, “Remember what the Lord your God did for you.”

Memory creates trust, and trust drives out fear. Memory guards against pride, the lie that says, “My own wisdom and strength did this for me.” Memory protects us from idolatry because when we forget what God has done, we begin to trust in substitutes.

Throughout Deuteronomy, Moses keeps returning to the same truth: “You were slaves, and God set you free.” Forget that and you will serve something else. So he cries out to Israel, “Remember!”

Four

Lent and the Church’s Call to Remember

During Lent, the Church leads us back through salvation history in the same spirit God commanded Israel in Deuteronomy: Remember. Again and again, God tells His people to remember how He saved them, how He brought them out of slavery, carried them through the desert, fed them when they were hungry, and formed them as His own, because forgetting always leads to fear, pride, and infidelity.

The Divine Office, the book the priests pray every day, takes up this lesson by walking us through Exodus during Lent. And if you’ve gone to the Easter Vigil, you know the Church reads nine readings, yes, nine, proclaiming the whole story of salvation on the night Christ’s Passover is made present so that we remember.

This remembering is not nostalgia. It is not moral instruction. It is a living remembrance that keeps us constantly aware of the presence of God and all He has done, which preserves us from all sin.

Beginning tomorrow, we will walk through salvation history, from the Old Testament through the life of Jesus, leading us into Holy Week. By praying through this history in our Rosary meditations during Lent, we allow God to reawaken our memory of His presence and all He has done for us, so that day by day we grow in gratitude, faith, hope, and love of God.

Five

The Infallible Means of Remembering

After Moses had died and Israel stood on the edge of the Promised Land, about to go in, God gave the Israelites the infallible means to remember and be faithful. God said to them, “Be strong and courageous… be careful to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you… This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night… then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success… for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:6–9)

The formula is clear: Meditate on God’s Word day and night, then you will remember the Lord and all He has done. And you will have a fantastic Lent and Easter. I hope you will join me tomorrow as we set out through salvation history.  

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