Who am I? is one of the fundamental and first questions asked by each person beginning as a little child until the moment of our earthly death. It is question that perplexes and at times causes great disturbance in our lives and at other times brings peace and quiet to the soul. Earlier this week we got an update from the genealogy service my Mom used several years ago to do her ancestry. Even then it was not surprising, my heritage is predominately Northern European, Germanic, Scandinavian, English Isles…over the years as the update this some of the percentages have changed and locations have moved, this last time they added that we are part from the upper Midwest of the United States, but the general genealogy has remained the same.
And though I consider myself German in heritage, all my ancestors to the best of our knowledge, emigrated from what is today Germany in the 19th and early 20th century, because of the history of Europe it didn’t shock me to see this mix come through the DNA service. The “Who am I?” is this way of thinking can easily be answered. But more deeply the “Who am I?” of our soul, of our deep longing to be loved and known by another is much more complicated and difficult to discover but ultimately is more satisfying to our peace and choosing to live fully and completely.

A few weeks ago I helped to lead a Mens Retreat based on the book “Fathered by God” by John Eldredge. During the retreat, hearing the reflections and sharing done by the other leaders the question of “Who am I?” loomed large. The simple but complex answer is very easy to state: I am a son of God. In truth as Christians we say this often: I am a child of God, a son a daughter of the one true God. We even continue with the truth: we are made in the image and likeness of our Father in Heaven. Because of the wounds of sin and the hurts of life we often begin to doubt the truth of who we are and how we are called to live our lives as beloved daughters and sons of God our Father.
Pope St. John Paul II in his Encyclical letter “Veritatis Splendor” shared with us the valuable insights into the truth of what it means to be a child of God. In using the story of the Rich Young Man (Mk 10:16-22) St.John Paul focuses on the growth of maturity in knowing more deeply God’s gift of life, the vocation he calls us to follow and how maturity allows us to follow freely the call to holiness. He writes, “Perfection demands that maturity in self-giving to which human freedom is called. Jesus points out to the young man that the commandments are the first and indispensable condition for having eternal life; on the other hand, for the young man to give up all he possesses and to follow the Lord is presented as an invitation: “If you wish…”. These words of Jesus reveal the particular dynamic of freedom’s growth towards maturity, and at the same time they bear witness to the fundamental relationship between freedom and divine law. Human freedom and God’s law are not in opposition; on the contrary, they appeal one to the other. The follower of Christ knows that his vocation is to freedom. “You were called to freedom, brethren” (Gal 5:13), proclaims the Apostle Paul with joy and pride. But he immediately adds: “only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love be servants of one another””(#17) To love someone, to become a servant to the beloved in true freedom because we leave behind the selfishness of desire and seek the fulfillment of another. The “Who am I?” is answered by the other in calling us their beloved in response to our outpouring of generous love.

This is a response of freedom in which we simply do not put on the robes of holiness in service but become united to the font of holiness in Jesus Christ. In answering, “Who am I?” St. John Paul calls us to remember, “Following Christ is not an outward imitation, since it touches man at the very depths of his being. Being a follower of Christ means becoming conformed to him who became a servant even too giving himself on the Cross (cf. Phil 2:5-8). Christ dwells by faith in the heart of the believer (cf. Eph 3:17), and thus the disciple is conformed to the Lord. This is the effect of grace, of the active presence of the Holy Spirit in us”.” (#21)
Who am I? A beloved child of God who lives in the grace, the peace and the joy of the life I am given and am called to share.
God Bless
Fr. Mark