September 29, 2020

Sts. Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, archangels

Beyond identity

What else can you tell me about myself? It is a question that can generally arise in reading and meeting the Father. We are eager to want to know each other more to be happier and suffer less. It is a question very similar to the one Nathanael asked when he met Jesus "Where did you come to know me?" A question that has to do with his identity and the uncertainty of the encounter.

But Jesus looked beyond, and wanted Nathanael to look beyond himself. Jesus’s question went beyond the meeting, since it invited Nathanael to visualize a path that was not only about self-knowledge, but about an invitation in the present and to the future. Promising that he will see "greater things than these", Jesus made him feel deeply and radically that there was something more, an invitation to become one with him.

May we let the question of our identity fall to Jesus, so that we may let ourselves rest in his promise. The loss of ourselves in him will ultimately help us find our own identity, recognize our deepest longings and strive for “greater things than these”.

—Br. Alberto Munguía Gómez, SJ, is a Jesuit brother from the Mexican province (MEX) who is studying psychology at the ITESO, Jesuit University of Guadalajara, Mexico. 

Prayer

Lord, you know each of us, and you know our hearts.  May we come to rest in your embrace, knowing that we receive our identity as your children from you. Amen.

—The Jesuit Prayer team

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