Excerpt from General Conference  -- Elder Jeffrey Holland  --  Oct. 1995

       "This Do in Remembrance of Me"

    "In that sacred setting, we ask you young men of the Aaronic
Priesthood to prepare and bless and pass these emblems of the
Savior's sacrifice worthily and reverently. What a stunning
privilege and sacred trust given at such a remarkably young age! I
can think of no higher compliment heaven could pay you. We do love
you. Live your best and look your best when you participate in the
sacrament of the Lord's Supper.

     May I suggest that wherever possible a white shirt be worn by
the deacons, teachers, and priests who handle the sacrament. For
sacred ordinances in the Church we often use ceremonial clothing,
and a white shirt could be seen as a gentle reminder of the white
clothing you wore in the baptismal font and an anticipation of the
white shirt you will soon wear into the temple and onto your
missions.

     That simple suggestion is not intended to be pharisaic or
formalistic. We do not want deacons or priests in uniforms or
unduly concerned about anything but the purity of their lives. But
how our young people dress can teach a holy principle to us all,
and it certainly can convey sanctity. As President David O. McKay
taught, a white shirt contributes to the sacredness of the holy
sacrament (see Conference Report, Oct. 1956, p. 89).

     In the simple and beautiful language of the sacramental
prayers those young priests offer, the principal word we hear seems
to be remember. In the first and slightly longer prayer offered
over the bread, mention is made of a willingness to take upon us
the name of the Son of God and to keep the commandments he has
given us.

       Neither of those phrases is repeated in the blessing on the
water, though surely both are assumed and expected. What is
stressed in both prayers is that all of this is done in remembrance
of Christ. In so participating we witness that we will always
remember him, that we may always have his Spirit to be with us (see
D&C 20:77, 79). If remembering is the principal task before us,
what might come to our memory when those plain and precious emblems
are offered to us?

     We could remember the Savior's premortal life and all that we
know him to have done as the great Jehovah, creator of heaven and
earth and all things that in them are. We could remember that even
in the Grand Council of Heaven he loved us and was wonderfully
strong, that we triumphed even there by the power of Christ and our
faith in the blood of the Lamb (see Rev. 12:10-11).

     We could remember the simple grandeur of his mortal birth to
just a young woman, one probably in the age range of those in our
Young Women organization, who spoke for every faithful woman in
every dispensation of time when she said, "Behold the handmaid of
the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word" (Luke 1:38).

      We could remember his magnificent but virtually unknown
foster father, a humble carpenter by trade who taught us, among
other things, that quiet, plain, unpretentious people have moved
this majestic work forward from the very beginning, and still do so
today. If you are serving almost anonymously, please know that so,
too, did one of the best men who has ever lived on this earth.

     We could remember Christ's miracles and his teachings, his
healings and his help. We could remember that he gave sight to the
blind and hearing to the deaf and motion to the lame and the maimed
and the withered. Then, on those days when we feel our progress has
halted or our joys and views have grown dim, we can press forward
steadfastly in Christ, with unshaken faith in him and a perfect
brightness of hope (see 2 Ne. 31:19-20).

     We could remember that even with such a solemn mission given
to him, the Savior found delight in living; he enjoyed people and
told his disciples to be of good cheer. He said we should be as
thrilled with the gospel as one who had found a great treasure, a
veritable pearl of great price, right on our own doorstep. We could
remember that Jesus found special joy and happiness in children and
said all of us should be more like them--guileless and pure, quick
to laugh and to love and to forgive, slow to remember any offense.

     We could remember that Christ called his disciples friends,
and that friends are those who stand by us in times of loneliness
or potential despair. We could remember a friend we need to contact
or, better yet, a friend we need to make. In doing so we could
remember that God often provides his blessings through the
compassionate and timely response of another. For someone nearby we
may be the means of heaven's answer to a very urgent prayer.

     We could and should remember the wonderful things that have
come to us in our lives and that "all things which are good cometh
of Christ" (Moro. 7:24). Those of us who are so blessed could
remember the courage of those around us who face more difficulty
than we, but who remain cheerful, who do the best they can, and
trust that the Bright and Morning Star will rise again for them as
surely he will do (see Rev. 22:16).

      On some days we will have cause to remember the unkind
treatment he received, the rejection he experienced, and the
injustice, oh, the injustice---he endured. When we, too, then face
some of that in life, we can remember that Christ was also troubled
on every side, but not distressed; perplexed, but not in despair;
persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed (see 2
Cor. 4:8-9).

     When those difficult times come to us, we can remember that
Jesus had to descend below all things before he could ascend above
them, and that he suffered pains and afflictions and temptations of
every kind that he might be filled with mercy and know how to
succor his people in their infirmities (see D&C 88:6; Alma
7:11-12).

      To those who stagger or stumble, he is there to steady and
strengthen us. In the end he is there to save us, and for all this
he gave his life. However dim our days may seem they have been
darker for the Savior of the world.

     In fact, in a resurrected, otherwise perfected body, our Lord
of this sacrament table has chosen to retain for the benefit of his
disciples the wounds in his hands and his feet and his side; signs,
if you will, that painful things happen even to the pure and
perfect. Signs, if you will, that pain in this world is not
evidence that God doesn't love you. It is the wounded Christ who is
the captain of our soul---he who yet bears the scars of sacrifice,
the lesions of love and humility and forgiveness.

      Those wounds are what he invites young and old, then and now,
to step forward and see and feel (see 3 Ne. 11:15; 18:25). Then we
remember with Isaiah that it was for each of us that our Master was
"despised and rejected...; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with
grief" (Isa. 53:3). All this we could remember when we are invited
by a kneeling young priest to remember Christ always.

     We no longer include a supper with this ordinance, but it is
a feast nevertheless. We can be fortified by it for whatever life
requires of us, and in so doing we will be more compassionate to
others along the way.

     One request Christ made of his disciples on that night of deep
anguish and grief was that they stand by him, stay with him in his
hour of sorrow and pain. "Could ye not watch with me one hour?" he
asked longingly (Matt. 26:40). I think he asks that again of us,
every Sabbath day when the emblems of his life are broken and
blessed and passed.