The liturgy is an act of renewal through memory. In the liturgy, we re-position ourselves– along with the entire cosmic family– towards the source of all creation and thereby regain our identity.

O Sacred Banquet! In which Christ is received, the memory of his passion recalled, the soul filled with grace, and the pledge of future glory given to us.
St. Thomas Aquinas

Liturgy serves to reconnect us to the past and to shape us for the future. It helps to affirm our relationship with God and with the community. It assists us to see that we have a place in the universe as a person of value and worth. Without memory there can be no liturgy. Without the language and action of liturgy our memory of who we are and who we should become would fade. “The first step in liquidating a people is to erase its memory,” said Milan Herbl. Thus the first step in liquidating the people of God is to separate them from a living liturgy. Without a memory there can be no liturgy. Without a liturgy there can be no memory of God for the people.
Peter Atkins

To the extent that memory “resurrects,”“re-cycles,” and makes the past “reappear” and live again in the present, it cannot perform historically, since it refuses to keep the past in the past.
Gabrielle M. Spiegel