JUNE292025

Jesus asked Peter and the Apostles: Who do you say that I am? After Paul was struck down on the road to Damascus he asked, “Who are you, Lord?” Elie Wiesel speculates that after God blew the breath of life into the Adam he formed out the dust the first question was not, “Who are you?” but “Who am I?” Questions of identity lie at the heart of the Christian message. What Jesus wanted us to understand is that “who are you?” and “who am I” are not two distinct questions but two sides of the same question. Who am I? I am the beloved of God, made in God’s image and likeness, precious in God’s sight. Who are you? You are love, the source of life, the creator of all that is. We can’t understand who we are as human beings without understanding who God is and how God is for us. That helps to explain why talk of the Trinty lies at the heart of thinking about God. God being God is relationship, reciprocity, mutuality. Our relationship with God invited us into the divine life, into the giving and receiving of love. Our identity as human beings is found in intimacy with God. As St. Paul put it: It is now no longer I that live but Christ that lives in me (Gal. 2:20).