A priest wrote an amusing description about a case of mistaken identity he experienced one Halloween.ย He said, โWhen I was in fourth grade I was enthralled with [the fictional hero] Zorro and was excited to wear my costume and parade around the neighborhood for treats.ย I put on my black boots, black shirt and pants, black sombrero and mask, and left on my crusade.ย However, I began to become slightly depressed when I quickly realized that no one had any idea who I was.ย When I rang the doorbell of my elderly next-door neighbors, they opened their door and began to laugh.ย โWhoa!ย Itโs Johnny Cash!โย They shouted, โCan you sing โBurning Ring of Fire?โย Sheepishly, I had to tell them that not only was I not Johnny Cash, but I had no idea who that was.ย Things did not get any better.ย Two houses later, a woman opened the door and thought I was the Hamburglar from McDonaldโs.ย โNo cheeseburgers here,โ she chided.ย โThis is the worst costume ever!โย I began to seethe.ย A group of my momโs friends stopped to get a picture with me as I journeyed along, and I began to feel vindicated after such embarrassment.ย However, I was still grossly misunderstood. โFather Guido Sarducci,โ one of them exclaimed [referring to the fictional Vatican City gossip columnist on Saturday Night Live].ย โI havenโt seen that outfit in years.โย I was not amused, not in the least.
โAs I began to make my way homeward, I could not shake the feeling as though the whole Halloween had been a waste. I can even remember thinking, โWhen I get home, I am burning this outfit!โย Then finally it happened.ย โHey Zorro!โ a young couple exclaimed from the porch of their house.ย โDid you leave your horse at home?โย โYes,โ I replied, โand thank you for noticing!โย I didnโt even stop to get candy, but instead I ran home filled with joy that someone finally knew my identityโ (Fr. Michael Ackerman, โA Case of Mistaken Identity,โ The Priest, October 2019, p. 54).ย As human beings, we have a deep inner need not only to discover our true selves, but also to have our identity recognized and acknowledged by others. If this is truly to happen, however, we must seek to know and fulfill Godโs plan for our livesโfor only through His grace can we ultimately discover and become the persons weโre meant to be. ย
As we see in the Gospel of John (1:6-8, 19-28), the religious leaders were confused about the identity and mission of John the Baptist, wondering if he was claiming to be Elijah, or a prophet, or even the long-awaited Messiah.ย John dismissed these ideas, and instead called himself a voice crying out in the wilderness. He knew it was his mission to prepare the Lordโs way, and he found great peace and satisfaction in doing so, humbly acknowledging his role as only a messenger of the One Who was coming.ย As foretold in the Book of Isaiah (61:1-2, 10-11), the Spirit of the Lord was upon John, enabling him to bring glad tidings to the poor and to announce a year of favor and a day of vindication by God.ย John grew in holiness and became spiritually greatโindeed, one of the greatest of all the saintsโby accepting and fulfilling His calling from God.ย St. Paul (1 Thes 5:16-24) tells us that we must not quench the Spirit by ignoring or rejecting the Lordโs summons; rather, we must pray to know His will for us and seek His help in carrying it outโjust as John the Baptist did.ย This is how we will discover and rejoice in our true identity, while becoming perfectly holy and blameless in preparation for our eventual encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ.ย
The religious leaders who questioned John would, later on, largely turn against Jesus, but at this point they sincerely wanted to understand who John was. Many times todayโs world confronts us about our identityโquite often in an unfriendly and disrespectful manner.ย If we take seriously the implications and demands of our religion, and defend our Catholic faith when itโs attacked, we may hear challenges like these, whether figuratively or even literally:ย โJust who do you think you are?ย Are you one of those judgmental, hypocritical Catholics who think theyโre better than everyone else?ย Are you one of those anti-choice zealots who wonโt acknowledge a womanโs right to her own body?ย Are you one of those doctrinaire Christians trying to impose their values on the rest of us? Why wonโt you get with the program and be like the rest of us?โ
Angry and unfair questions like these from other people, whether spoken to us aloud or silently thought about us, can be part of the price we pay for following Jesus.ย If we are truly His disciples, we may offend worldly people or make them uncomfortable, and they in turn may try to restrict and define our identity in a negative way.ย The Lord doesnโt want us to let this happen; as His witnesses, we must reflect His love for all people and share the truth that everyone is in need of, and invited to receive, His mercy.ย Just as John the Baptist would not allow the religious leaders of his time to define him or his mission, so we by the way we live must respond to the worldโs hostility by proclaiming, โWe are children of God, followers of Jesus, and members of His One True Church; we are redeemed sinners saved by the Blood of Jesus, and missionary disciples calling others to accept the gift of salvation we have already received.โ
Years ago there was a trendy religious saying that went, โIf you were on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?โย In the light of our Gospel reading, that question is still relevant.ย Can people tell what we believe, and Whom we serve, by the way we live?ย Are our values noticeably different from those of our secular society?ย If people discovered that we are Catholic, would our lifestyle and example make them more likely, or less likely, to join the Church?
The Lord has a plan for each of us, a unique calling or vocation that will help us achieve true holiness and eternal happiness, give us opportunities to influence and help others, and allow us to become the persons we were created to be. Embracing our Catholic identity may involve a life of sacrifices and challenges, but it will also be a life filled with joy and many graces and blessings, and one free of emptiness and regret.ย Let us use these remaining days of Advent as a chance to deepen and rejoice in our identity as disciples of the Lord Jesus.