Who are you???

It is so easy to forget who we are at the core of our being sometimes. I noticed this while I enjoyed vacation in the cool of Florida this past week. The days were filled with activities and being a priest, yet alone my Christian identity was hard to grasp at times. We have begun our forty day journey that comes to fulfillment at our Easter Vigil's with a renewal of our Christian identity...baptism.

I am preaching about this on Sunday...we have to remember who we are in God's eyes. We are sons and daughters. At Jesus' baptism, He was revealed as the beloved Son in whom God was well pleased. In our baptisms, we are revealed as God's sons and daughters. Jesus knew His identity as Son and was successful in his defense of the devil's temptations this week.

How do we defend ourselves against temptation? I just had twelve weeks of writing on sin but how do we defend against it? Step one, is really knowing who we are as the baptized. When is the last time you identified yourself as a beloved son or daughter of God. I don't mean to the world here, but even to yourself. Is it ingrained in your being that you are a beloved son or daughter? Jesus defended Himself with His identity and confidence that the Son does the will of the Father. When we look at our identity as God's beloved son or daughter as second nature, and not secondary, we as Jesus did, begin to put aside the nonsense of temptation. One cannot beat temptation without knowing who we are as baptized Christians...beloved sons and daughters.