Who Am I

 

This morning a little girl came over to me during mass, and smiled as she held up her stuffed bunny for my inspection.  At that moment I believe I felt what Jesus felt when he said how special the little children were to God.  At that moment, in a small way, I put on the mind of God.

Today is the feast day of St. John the Baptist, and we were reminded in the readings how John, like Jesus, had asked his followers “Who do you think I am?”  And John, like Jesus, had to clarify their misunderstandings.  If we were to ask that same question today of our friends and family, would we also have to clarify their misunderstandings?  How well do we present to the world who we think we are, or at least try to be?  Or do we need to ask that question of ourselves first: “Who am I, or who do I want to be?” To clarify it to ourselves?

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Fr John Bartunek has a wonderful series of talks which he calls mini-retreats.  They are on a variety of subjects.  I recently listened to one on the Annunciation.  The first two short talks discussed who Mary was and how she perceived the angel who came to her to and said: “Rejoice so highly favored.  The Lord is with you!”  And she was to bear a son and name him Jesus.  The talks were very insightful and thought-provoking, as Fr Bartunek’s talks often are, but it was the third short talk which most interested me.  The topic was how we see angels in our lives. 

Angels are messengers, and Fr. Bartunek points out 5 common everyday messengers God sends us to tell us God’s word.  The first is mental prayer, meditation.  The second is God’s will.  The third is the beauty we see in nature and art.  The fourth are inspirations of the Holy Spirit, calling us to action.  And finally, we sometimes receive God’s angel in the form of the goodness of other people (to us).  All of these are God’s angels to us, even as He sent an angel to Mary.  They tell us of His love.

Who am I?  I am someone God created out of love, and in love He sends messengers to me to show me that love, and give me opportunities to love in ways He created me to do, opportunities to be who He created me to be.  It’s who I am.

Fr. Bartunek’s retreat talks are at RCSpirituality.org.