The phrase “Memento Mori” (‘remember the dead’) means many different things to different people. One interpretation that I have heard and that I like is from 2022s movie, Burial starring Charlotte Vega and others. The main character explains that Romans would chant, “Memento mori!” at the Roman soldiers when they came home from battle. She explained that they would chant this as a reminder to the soldiers to remember their fallen comrades and not think themselves invulnerable, just lucky they survived.

There are 3 ways and or reasons we need to be saying “memento mori” to ourselves and others today. One is that like, those people in Roman times, we need to remind ourselves that life is fleeting and we are not invulnerable. We also need to use it to avoid sin which leads to “death”. We also need to say it to remember that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses who are egging us on to victory in the spiritual life.

Now, you may chuckle to yourself and say that you are not a soldier and that no one is trying to kill you. However, pain and suffering come to all of us in many different ways and it does not matter if you are on a battlefield or not. The horrors of life know no boundaries and can be just a phone call or a short drive away. If you are on the front-lines of crime and violence then you do not need reminding of how fragile peace and life is. Do not be proud or haughty because you made it home safely from work. Memento mori! You could be…next.

However, the Bible tells us to remember and recognize the death is all around us. The Bible talks about a spiritual death that is described as worse than any suffering that we could conceive of coming to anyone on this planet. There are signs of walking dead people all around us. When there are people who want to kill human beings because they are inconvenient, that is a sign of spiritual death. When a person’s sexuality is their god, that is a sign of spiritual death. When a person is not afraid of God and being thrown into Hell, that is a sign of death. Memento mori! Remember the dead and pray for them!

Also we need to remember the dead because if we believe in Heaven, then we have to believe that the dead are not truly gone. Paul tells in Hebrews 12:1 that…..

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,

His admonition to remember the dead leads to doing the things that the Lord has called us to do: do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. Memento mori! They are at the finish line urging us in!

Proverbs 8:35 For those who find me find life and receive favor from the Lord.

———————————————————————————W.