Dear Parishioners,

On this Third Sunday of Advent the figure of John the Baptist is presented to us again. This time with the question being ask of him: “Who are you?” This is a question of identity. This is also the question our Lord is going to ask each of us when we stand before him, “Who are you?”

John first answers the question “Who are you?” by stating clearly who he is not. Just imagine how easy it would have been for John to claim for himself this great role so as to gain the honor and respect of the crowd as well as the messengers from Jerusalem. John possessed an honest humility and those qualities allowed him to dismiss false identities no matter how appealing they may have been. The first important aspect of being a witness is to dismiss our false senses of self and to clearly acknowledge who we are not. Sometimes it is tempting to want others to believe that we are more competent than we are, or that our lives (and relationships) are without difficulty. It can also be tempting to want others to see us as people who are somehow better than the rest in one way or another—holier, wealthier, happier, or more successful.

These temptations can lead us to project and even believe in a false self. We can also find ourselves believing in a false self because of the erroneous messages we receive through the media, advertising, magazine images, or other influences from the world around us. These external influences can lead us to think that we are inherently damaged or flawed in some way, and as a result, we can develop a poor self-image that seeks material goods, products, relationships, or physical beauty to be happy or loveable. Sometimes, too, people can have a false sense of self that is based on weakness, failure, or even an injury caused by another person—these, too, are false identities. True and honest humility dismisses both false identities of superiority as well as inferiority.

Like St. John the Baptist, our true identity can only be discovered in humility before Jesus. The baby that is coming to the manger next week on Christmas Day is the person that can give each of us our true identity, that is what we are and what we are not. Our true identity is a child of God, know that we are loved by God, he has a plan for us and we are called to eternal life to be happy with him forever. Let us come and adore again the Christ child Jesus in the manger.