Why We Say 'Memento Mori'

The Fr. Mike Schmitz Catholic Podcast

Ascension

Christianity, Religion & Spirituality, Society & Culture

4.9 • 7.1K Ratings

🗓️ 13 December 2018

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

You may have heard the phrase memento mori (remember your death)—especially if you hang out with those strange Catholics—but did you know there are three meanings woven into those two words?

Sure, the immediate thought that comes to mind may be the fact that someday we will die; and this is good to remember because that day could be any day, so we should live accordingly.

What people may not recognize, though, is that memento mori could also be a reminder to the Christian that we have died to ourselves, so that we may gain eternal life in Christ.

As St. Paul says, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). The life you live is not your own. Remember, as a Christian you have died to yourself. Entering your day with that in mind may be difficult if you want to live for yourself, but it could also be liberating if we give everything to God.

Thirdly, it is good to “remember your death” because it is a reminder of the joy that will come when we live with Christ for eternity. Remembering our death in that way can fill us with the strongest kind of hope.

Support The Fr. Mike Schmitz Catholic Podcast

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	How My Names Father Mike Schmitz and This is Essential Reasons.
0:06.6	So I have a, not a big family, but I have a number of siblings.
0:10.4	There are actually six of us total, six of us total.
0:13.6	And my oldest sister a couple of years ago, kind of funny.
0:16.8	I call her my sassy sister, but she's just a lot of fun.
0:19.9	Well they're all fun, but she's the one who will always tell you what she thinks.
0:23.7	And that's beside the point more or less, but a couple of years ago.
0:27.7	So my older sister, she was on her mid 40s, I guess.
0:31.4	And she had, she got, on the inside of her forearm, inside her wrist, she got a tattoo
0:36.1	of a skull, human skull that was surrounded by flowers.
0:40.1	And it was summertime.
0:41.7	And I was like, oh, hey, nice tattoo.
0:44.1	She's like, shh, don't tell mom.
0:46.3	And I was like, first of all, you're an adult.
0:50.9	Second of all, you have a tattoo of a skull, surrounded by flowers on the inside of your
0:55.6	wrist, inside of your forearm.
0:57.0	I think mom is going to find out at some point.
0:59.6	Anyways, so of course my mom did.
1:02.0	And it's my sister at one point.
1:03.9	She said, well, hey, could you bless my tattoo?
1:08.6	And I thought, I don't know.
1:11.6	Sure, why not?
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Ascension, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Ascension and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.