24th Sunday, Ordinary Time, Sept. 13, 2013

Written by Fr. Fitz Wednesday, 09 September 2015 10:17

Who am I?

A simple question with profound consequences. Who am I? Who are you? Is it the grinning selfie that appears on our facebook, or the grumpy early riser, or the coiffed and fashionable party goer?

At one time or another, we are all of those personas and more.

Old yearbooks are fascinating. Who were they? Who are they today? The same? Different?

How has life moulded them, enlarged them? worn them down?

'Who am I?" asks Jesus.

 "John the Baptist."

"Elijah."

"A prophet."

Then the volitile Peter gets it right:

"The Christ!"

The anointed one.

But so are we at our baptism.

But even before that we had a primal identity:

We came into the world as human.

And so we hear the bedraggled refugees cry out:

"Look at us we are human!"

And already the poiticos are coming out with reasons why we will not look at them, not welcome thm, not take them in.

"There may be terrorists among them!"

So who are WE?

Who do we want to be?

And who are we becoming?

A fevered people cowering in fear egged on by hate mongers the likes of Donald Trump?

An island of self righteous bigots surrounding ourselves with walls to keep all hose OTHERS out?

If so, we should dismantle the Statue of Liberty and send her back to France or drape her over with cloth to cover our shame.

We are at a testing time in America. Prospective leaders are calling forh the worst in us, not the best.

Who are you, really?

Who am I?

And who do we want to be?