When I was a young seminarian working in a mission parish one summer, an older brother paid me a high compliment. “Brother John, I don’t know if you are a good religious, but you are a good Christian.” I took that to mean that my actions were modeled on the teaching and example of Jesus. Our Lord stresses that we recognize the presence and action of God by what people say but by what we see others doing. If I do not perform my Father’s works, do not believe me; but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me, believe the works. Or as Jesus puts it in another place. “By their fruits, you shall know them” (Matthew 7:20). It is not whatever title we have or where we are registered that makes us a true disciple of Jesus. It is our charity, compassion, generosity, fidelity and forgiveness.
