Jun 18 Wed
Who am I?
Good question. Jesus came into the world to tell you who you are.
Before his ordination, a priest worked as an airline desk agent in the U.S. Midwest. On one occasion, a snowstorm shut down the airport. People lined up for reroutes, but it was impossible. He said an unnamed (widely recognized) celebrity lost his patience and demanded, “Do you know who I am? Do you!” The passenger in line behind him dropped his luggage and said, “Oh great. I’m in the middle of a snowstorm trying to get home for Christmas, and now the guy in front of me doesn’t know who he is!
Jesus is the Word made Flesh. Thus, He dignifies our being human, and somehow “divinizes” us, making us children of God the Father.
With Jesus at our side, why wouldn’t we expect Him to restore the kingdom of Israel, end every war, solve every family altercation, and install our preferred rulers? Why not provide God with a job description that satisfies every impulse of ours, good and evil?
Jesus instructed His apostles to live and proclaim the Gospel in faith: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:) This job must continue with our cooperation as God’s instruments.
Our encounter with Jesus requires faith to realize our Christian dignity and duties as His disciples in union with Him. Jesus departs to confer the Holy Spirit upon us and puts us to work: “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11) Faithful Christians no longer ask, “What will Jesus do?” They ask with faith, “What does Jesus want me to do?”
Years ago, a man called a priest to administer the sacraments to his dying wife. Over many difficult months, he cared for his wife, fed her, and kept her comfortable. Upset, he asked the priest why God didn’t send her the help she desperately needed. The priest marveled at the man’s selfless generosity and said, “You are mistaken. God indeed sent your wife help. He sent you.”
Likewise, the present society and the world at large are in a mess. People put God out of their lives, they fight against one another, they betray their commitments…
WHO is God going to send to improve the world?
With the Holy Spirit, God and man are reconciled in His Church and sealed by God’s grace. The Holy Spirit—in Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist—brings us to a new and exalted understanding of the faith in the Incarnation, the reconciliation of God and man. With God’s grace, we become sharers of God’s nature and His mission in Jesus. We discover who we are, children of God; we learn our destiny, and how to love.
Who am I? St. Athanasius responds: “The Son of God became man so that we might become God.”
Some excerpts from Fr. Jerry Pokorsky