One of the characteristics of modernity is the preoccupation with personal identity. A famous example of this comes from the modern philosopher Rene Descartes. Descartes famously argued that even if he could doubt everything else—including the existence of God and even of the outside world—the one thing he couldn’t doubt was his ability to doubt, i.e. to think. This was the basis for his famous Cogito, ergo sum, “I think, therefore I am.” Descartes made this the first principle of his philosophical system of knowledge, and attempted to build the rest of his knowledge, including his knowledge of the existence of God, upon it. Instead of starting with God and moving toward the self, he started with the self and attempted to move toward God. But the problem with starting with yourself, is that often you end up getting stuck there and never getting to God.
“Don’t let anyone tell you who you are.” This is a very modern sentiment. “No one else—not your culture, not your community, not your family, not even your biology—has the ultimate say, you do. You think, therefore you are.” This way of approaching reality is foreign to our faith and incompatible with it. It is contrary to what has been revealed to us in Sacred Scripture. In the Bible, and in our Catholic faith, the more important question is not “Who am I?” but “Who do you belong to?” In other words, not “Who am I?” but “Whose am I?
“Who am I?” is a very difficult question to answer. It’s not a question we will fully answer in this life, for only in heaven will we truly understand who we are. Right now, we see indistinctly, as in a foggy mirror; then we will know fully even as we are fully known (1 Corinthians 13:12). The easier question to answer is “Whose am I?” And the answer of course, is “God’s.” You belong to God. He is yours and you are His. “Whose am I?” “I am God’s.” Not only is this the easier question to answer, but it also gives us the best chance of answering the other question. Only by knowing whose we are do we understand who we are.
At our baptism, God claimed us for Himself. “You are mine,” He said. We might feel different things when we hear these words. If we’ve had a manipulative or abusive relationship with a parent, spouse, or someone else who was supposed to love us, we might find these words hard to receive. We might especially feel the need to create our own identity. “I can’t belong to anyone but myself, because no one else is safe.” It might take time to hear these words “You are mine” as they are meant to be heard—as Jesus heard them at His own baptism.
At our baptism, Jesus’ own relationship with the Father—a relationship He has by nature—becomes ours by grace. The same words which were spoken to Him are spoken to us as well. “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.’” Before our baptism, we belonged to God as one of His creatures. To be a creature of God is a wonderful thing; but it is far greater to be a son or daughter! God loves sparrows, but you are worth more than many sparrows (Matthew 10:31).
Baptism makes us a son or daughter in God’s family which is the Church. And God has some wonderful things to say about His family and the people who belong to it. Here’s a short selection of things He said about you:
You are my treasured possession – Exodus 19:5
You are fearfully and wonderfully made – Psalm 139:14
You are mine – Isaiah 43:1
You are engraved on the palms of my hands – Isaiah 49:16
You are a crown of beauty – Isaiah 62:3
You are a joy to me – Zephaniah 3:17
You are my friend – John 15:15
You are chosen and appointed – John 15:16
You were bought at a price – 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
You are a new creation – 2 Corinthians 5:17
You are my child and an heir to my kingdom – Galatians 4:7
You are my handiwork – Ephesians 2:10
You will never be left alone or forsaken – Hebrews 13:5
We could never come up with a list of such wonderful things to say about ourselves. But God did, and He meant every last one of them! Because of whose you are, you know who you are.
Descartes said, “I think, therefore I am.” God says to us, “You are, because I AM.” And because of the great gift of baptism, God has even more to say: “You are, because I AM YOURS AND YOU ARE MINE.” If we truly understood the truth, goodness, and beauty of this great gift of belonging to God through baptism, we would die of love. We will only know it when death is no more. Then, when we see God face to face, we will truly know what it means to be His.On this Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, we might take the opportunity to reflect on one of these “You are” statements listed above. Perhaps pick one that you find hard to believe in. Could God really love me that much? He could, and does—even more than you could ever hope for or imagine. This is who you are, because of whose you are. You are God’s. Amen.
