Recently I met a young family with six children, ranging in age from 2 months old to 10 years old. I could feel their family identity was rooted in God and they trusted God fully.
Today’s gospel and first reading focuses on the question of identity and trust. Our sense of identity in Christ, when fully lived by us who are called Christians – not only by name but by our very life – can become a powerful means to dispel the power of unbelief and indifference that pervade the world. And so the gospel today invites us to examine the false sense of identity that we have imposed on ourselves … or that we have allowed the world to impose on us.
As we approach the holiest of weeks, I encourage you and your family to reflect on your identity and trust as members of Christ’s family. How many times have we given up Jesus for the sinful pleasures of this world? How have we identified with him? How can we identify with him more fully as a family?
Thank you, friends, for joining me today. May this holy season of Lent continue to draw you and your family closer to Christ.
.jpg "Father Pinto Paul, C.S.C.")