Watch and Pray

Elder Pedro X. Larreal spoke about the importance of the sacrament in the most recent general conference. He encouraged us to make the time sacred that we have during the sacrament: “The ordinance of the sacrament makes sacrament meeting the most sacred and important meeting in the Church. During the sacrament, we should strive to remove every worldly thought from our minds. This is time to be prayerful and reverent, not a time for reading secular books or magazines, nor is it a time for checking our cell phones. This sacred time is to feel His love for us and remember Him, to know that we are never alone and that His Spirit will be with us to help us during trials and challenges.” It is easy to get casual in our thoughts and actions during the sacrament because there is so much that can distract us, especially now that so many of us have phones with us there. But we might ponder the question the Savior asked Peter when He was in the middle of His sacrifice at Gethsemane: “What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:40-41). We probably do not usually fall asleep during the sacrament, but we easily let our thoughts—or phones—go to worldly things instead of “watching” with Him during that time consecrated to focus on His sacrifice. Can we not watch ten minutes with Him during the sacrament?   

            Elder Larreal connected our experience in the sacrament with this statement from President Oaks: “I feel to emphasize the warning President Russell M. Nelson issued us: that ‘in coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without c.’ One of the many reasons you will need the constant influence of the Holy Ghost is that you live in a season in which the adversary has become so effective at disguising truth that if you don’t have the Holy Ghost, you will be deceived.” Elder Larreal continued, “We can renew that influence of the Holy Ghost each week by personally preparing to partake of the sacrament.” I don’t think I had connected President Nelson’s invitation directly with the sacrament before, but surely that is the most important moment of our week to commit to seeking the Spirit to be with us. We often speak of “renewing our covenants” at the time of the sacrament, and I like this idea of renewing the influence of the Holy Ghost in our lives. The promise of the Savior to the Nephites is for us today: “And this shall ye always do to those who repent and are baptized in my name; and ye shall do it in remembrance of my blood, which I have shed for you, that ye may witness unto the Father that ye do always remember me. And if ye do always remember me ye shall have my Spirit to be with you” (3 Nephi 18:11). Perhaps if we sought the Spirit more earnestly in our lives, we would more deeply seek Him during the sacrament.  

The most important part of the sacrament is to remember Him, as is evidence by the fact that this is the one promise we make that is repeated in both the prayer on the bread and the water. And His promise is that as we do we will have His Spirit to be with us. To remember Him we must do exactly as Elder Larreal encouraged us to do, turning off the distractions in order to focus our thoughts on Him. He asked, “The sacrament represents the Atonement of Jesus Christ. During that sacred moment, when we give our full attention to Him and focus on His atoning sacrifice, how can we not feel His great love for us? How can we not feel important when we remember that He willingly volunteered to be the Advocate between us and the Father?” We have promised to always remember Him, and surely we come short of that most of the time, but we can at least make sure that during those few minutes partaking of the sacrament we remember Him and do not break this promise in the very act of making it again! The Savior said to the Nephites as He gave them the sacrament the same thing he said to the sleeping Peter: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye must watch and pray always, lest ye be tempted by the devil” (3 Nephi 18:15). As we watch and pray especially during the sacrament we can overcome temptation and renew “the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.”