(Baptism of the Lord (C): This homily was given on January 11, 1998 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I. by Fr. Raymond Suriani. Read Luke 3: 15-16, 21-22.)

"Who do you think you are?"

There can be a big difference between ‘who I am’ and ‘who I think I am.’ And this difference can have a detrimental effect on our life. For example, some of you may remember the anecdote I shared a couple of years ago about the eagle who never knew who he really was: It seems that one day a man found an eagle’s egg on the ground near his house, and he decided to put it in the nest of one of his backyard hens. The baby eagle eventually hatched with the chicks, and grew up with them. All his life, from birth until death, he thought he was a chicken. So he walked like a chicken; he cackled like a chicken; he did everything like a chicken. Consequently, he never realized his potential as a powerful, majestic eagle. The difference between ‘who he was’ and ‘who he thought he was’ had a negative effect on his life.

Ancient philosophers like Plato used to say, "Know thyself." In other words, "Know who you really are." If you’re an eagle, don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re a barnyard chicken! The importance of understanding our true identity came home to me several years ago, when a young man I went to high school with took his own life. Materially speaking, he had nearly everything this world could offer; but on the inside, he obviously lacked peace. I believe that his lack of peace came from a confusion about who he really was. He was adopted; he didn’t know his natural parents, and that bothered him. It caused him to have a negative view of himself. I think in his mind he was a nobody. That’s who he thought he was: a nobody who was worth much less than those of us who are blessed to know our natural parents.

Of course, nothing could have been further from the truth. He was not a nobody. He was an individual created in the image and likeness of God and redeemed by Jesus Christ. That was his true identity, although he obviously didn’t understand or fully appreciate it.

I focus on this issue this morning because today we celebrate the feast of the Baptism of the Lord; a feast which reminds us that, for Jesus, there was never any discrepancy between ‘who he was’ and ‘who he thought he was.’ He always understood his identity, and that made a big difference! His self-understanding positively influenced every aspect of his earthly life and ministry. And this self-understanding of Jesus, in a certain sense, was rooted in his baptism, in this event we commemorate today. Did Jesus know who he was before he was baptized? Of course. But his identity was made clear to the world when John baptized him. And so, if we had spoken to Jesus at some point during his earthly ministry, and had said to him, "Jesus, who are you?", he could easily have responded, "Weren’t you there on the day John baptized me? What did my heavenly Father say? He said, ‘This is my beloved Son. On him my favor rests.’ That’s who I am." If he had chosen to do so, our Lord could easily have identified himself with reference to his baptism.

The baptism we receive as Catholic Christians is very different from the one that Jesus received that day in the Jordan. We are sinners, he wasn’t. We come into the world with original sin on our souls, he didn’t. As one saint put it, "When we’re baptized, we’re made holy by the water; when Jesus was baptized, he made the water holy!" But there is one very important similarity between his baptism and ours: Jesus’ baptism revealed his true identity, and our baptism (whether we realize it or not) reveals our true identity. Jesus’ baptism revealed him as the divine Son of God. Our baptism makes it clear to the world that we are adopted children of God.

The more we come to appreciate our true identity as baptized sons and daughters of the Lord, the more fulfilling and meaningful our lives will be. We will never think, for example, that we’re a nobody--even if we’re adopted, even if we’re rejected or abandoned by other human beings. If we truly understand who we are in Christ, we will realize that we are always a somebody: a somebody who is deeply loved by the Creator of the universe; a somebody for whom the Son of God died; a somebody who was washed clean by the blood of Jesus in baptism; a somebody for whom God has great plans both here and in eternity. As a baptized man or woman, that’s who I am; consequently that’s who I should think that I am.

Every time we come into church, we have an opportunity to remind ourselves of this truth. I won’t take a poll, but I’m confident that most of you dipped the fingers of your right hands into the holy water font and blessed yourselves when you came into church today. Why? Many of us probably do this mechanically, without even thinking about it. But we should think about it, because there is an important reason for that particular gesture. (No, it’s not for cleaning your hands--we presume you do that at home before you come to Liturgy.) That gesture is supposed to remind us of who we really are. It’s supposed to remind us of our baptism. And so when I bless myself with holy water, I should be thinking of the fact that I’m a child of God; that I’ve been redeemed by the Cross of Christ; that I’ve been made a member of God’s family; that I’ve been washed, forgiven, cleansed, purified by the blood of the Lamb.

My brothers and sisters, if every Christian understood human identity in these terms, the world would be a very different place. Instead of treating one another as objects, for example, we would treat each other as special, unique, masterpieces of God’s creation. Some people wonder why the Church has such a high moral standard: it’s because the Church has such an exalted view of the human person! The Church sees every person as either a child of God or a potential child of God, and the Church says we should treat one another accordingly. Now, in case you’re unaware of it: that is not the way most people in the world look at reality. The Christian attitude is to love people and use things; the prevailing attitude in the world is to love things and use people. And that attitude is at the root of many, if not most, of our problems. Recently I was talking to a teenage girl who has a new boyfriend. He’s beginning to pressure her for certain sexual favors, and she’s not sure how to deal with it. I said to her, "Look, you make it clear to him that you’re a person, not a plaything. And if he says to you, ‘Well, if you loved me, you would do this,’ you tell him, ‘No. If you loved me, you would respect me and not violate my dignity.’ You’re a human being created in God’s image and redeemed by Jesus Christ, and you deserve to be treated accordingly. And if he can’t accept this truth about you, then, as Mary Beth Bonacci would say, ‘Dump him.’ Because if he doesn’t respect you now for who you really are, it will only get worse in the future."

Many years ago, when Mother Teresa was given the Nobel Peace prize, she said this about her identity: "By blood and origin, I am Albanian. My citizenship is Indian. I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the whole world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the heart of Jesus."