Always Remember Him

In the October 2014 general conference, Elder James J. Hamula of the Seventy said, “Through the sacramental prayers, we express our acceptance of this doctrine of Christ and our commitment to live according to it. In our petition to God, our Eternal Father, we declare that we will “always remember” His precious Son. First, we witness our “willingness” to remember. Then we witness that we “do” remember” (The Sacrament and the Atonement). 

He was referring to the subtle difference between the prayer on the bread and the prayer on the water.  In the prayer on the bread it says that the partakers “witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him” (Moroni 4:3).  So we express a willingness to take upon us the name of Christ and our willingness to always remember Christ.  In the prayer on the water it says that participants “may witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they do always remember him” (Moroni 5:2).  I had never noticed this subtle difference before; first we express a willingness and then we commit straightforwardly that we will indeed always remember Him.  When the Savior gave the Sacrament to the Nephites, He said, “It shall be a testimony to the Father that ye do always remember me” (3 Nephi 18:7).  Then He repeated this promise twice: “If ye do always remember me ye shall have my Spirit to be with you” (3 Nephi 18:7, 11).  It seems to me that this teaches us about our spiritual progression.  We first express a willingness to always remember the Savior, and that’s what is needed for us to be baptized.  Once we are baptized, then we receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, but we are told that we must be worthy to actually have the Holy Ghost with us.  In order to have the Spirit with us as the Savior said and as both the Sacramental prayers promise, we must “always remember him.”  Going from a willingness to always remember the Savior and actually doing that every day is certainly a process and the quest of a lifetime.  Samuel the Lamanite gave us a clue on how not do this.  He told the Nephites, “Ye do always remember your riches, not to thank the Lord your God for them; yea, your hearts are not drawn out unto the Lord” (Helaman 13:22).  If our hearts are not set upon the things of the world, then instead of always remembering our riches we will always remember the Savior.  But living in the midst of constant distractions where “the world is too much with us,” as William Wordsworth would say, this no easy task for the willing disciple of Christ.  It’s no wonder that we are encouraged to fill our life with so many reminders—daily prayer, daily scriptures, weekly Sacrament meetings, frequent temple visits—in order to help us keep our commitment to always remember the Savior.