Today's homily focused on God the Father's acknowledgment of Jesus as His son. This is what God does for us: he grants us our identity. So often people talk about trying to "find themselves," and for good reason. We are inundated with people, businesses, commercials, religions, careers, and many other outside forces all telling us who we are (or who they want us to be) and what we need to buy or do to get to be that person. It is for this reason that so many people find refuge in the wilderness, in a place where the contradicting ideas of our identity are silenced and we can try to listen to our core being to understand who we are.
God tries to make it simple for us: we are His children whom He love. He asks that we accept His love and share that love with one another. Why then, do I find it so hard to figure out who I am and what I'm supposed to do? I often ask this about my career, about my role as a father and husband, about further education that I can take ... many things. Sometimes I wish there was a clear set of instructions I could follow ... until I realize that I would rebel against any such kind of instructions as being too limiting.
I get in the way of my own search for identity.