The Book of Margery Kempe Memory and the Past Quotes

Kempe emphasizes the importance of doing things at the proper time. In most cases, this means when Jesus tells her something ought to be done. Her written narrative is no exception: although we might lament that she didn't record her experiences when they actually happened, for accuracy's sake, Kempe has no such concerns. For her, it's not about accuracy or preserving personal memory. It's about proclaiming God to the world in her own way.

Kempe's participation in affective piety demands that she put her own bodily concerns on hold and enter imaginatively into the life and sufferings of Christ. She often requires some kind of "trigger" to do so, and it comes to her visually, from everyday life more often than not. But sometimes, a mere memory is strong enough to ignite some serious dreaming about Jesus. This makes these memories very real and very painful to her.

Kempe is describing a ceremony during Easter week. In it, the crucifix is symbolically buried or hidden in a receptacle in the church. When this happens, Kempe is transported in her memory. But this time, it's not simply as a direct witness to the crucifixion: it's a secondary memory (Mary's, not hers), and it's a memory of emotions, not of events. Nevertheless, it's enough to ignite Kempe's compassion and her sorrow in a very real way.

Kempe shares this memory of mutual learning to show us how God provided her with company and education in the absence of her usual religious companions.

Although Kempe's compassion can be awakened in a variety of ways, contemplation of memorial art is a surefire trigger for her. In this case, she is viewing an image of Mary holding the body of her dead son. Even if you can't agree with Kempe's weeping and wailing in public, it's easy to see how this kind of art is emotionally moving.

In case you didn't catch it, this moment is actually pretty funny. This priest is clearly annoyed with Kempe's "overreaction" to the recollection of Christ's death, and he shows his exasperation. It points up Kempe's unique experience of religious memories that most people of faith take for granted. Although memorial rituals (such as Mass) exist to help the faithful participate more fully in their religion, Kempe's full immersion into events long past is a whole new level of involvement.

Kempe flees from the main church in Bishop's Lynn to the Prior's Chapel in order to avoid slander. It's probably not a coincidence, then, that she has this memory of Christ's suffering at this particular time. She often equates—as Jesus does—her suffering slander to Christ's own Passion. While all human suffering can be related to Christ's suffering in this way, slander is a particularly appropriate trigger for Kempe. She would have known that Christ was mocked and accused of many things on the way to crucifixion.

John Kempe, Kempe's husband, takes a nasty fall down the stairs when he is an old man, and Kempe has to take care of him. She hates doing this, because it takes away from her contemplative time. However, the memory of her former lust for her husband's body settles her down to the task much more easily, since she sees this all as a form of penance. This is an interesting confession, since Kempe usually says so little about her experiences as a wife.

There's a kind of double memory going on in this passage. First, Kempe's attending a Palm Sunday Mass, which memorializes Christ's entrance into Jerusalem. Because it is a reenactment of this event, it triggers a kind of memory experience for Kempe, in which she uses her own experiences in Jerusalem to participate imaginatively in Christ's journey.

Again, Kempe is participating in memorial celebrations of Christ's Passion and death during Holy Week at her church. She uses her memory of Jerusalem (specifically the Chapel of the Apparition) to create a new, emotional experience with Christ's mother, Mary.