One week ago today, I was in Guatemala, which was considerably warmer than here. I was on a service trip with six others from my previous parish, Holy Family in Mason City. It was an awesome trip, to San Lucas Toliman, which has a pastor from the New ulm, MN diocese. Fr. Greg Schaeffer has now been there 46 years. When he told me this, I had to remind him that I was one year old when he first went to San Lucas Toliman. But he is an incredible saint, and I am proud to have him as a brother priest.

Other groups of volunteers were also there, some in groups, some as couples, and even some as individuals. Lots of them hung out with us from Mason City, because we were the most fun group to be with.

But when we meet someone new, there are usually three questions we ask of them, to get some sense of who they are:

1. What is your name?
2. Where are you from?
3. What do you do?

This is a fairly common way to begin to know someone.

When trying to figure out the question, "who are you?" we often make quick judgements which are not accurate. Let me give you two examples from the trip that were shared in our reflection time each day.

My friend Sharon tells the story of Maria. Maria sold souveniers on the street and was quite aggressive in doing so. We all knew her within 12 hours of being there. Sharon tells of how, on the last day, she met Maria by the lake. Maria told Sharon the story of her life. Maria had only two years of formal schooling, yet she has taught herself three languages. Sharon says she felt so arrogant. She has a Masters degree in education, and yet was humbled that Maria has done something she could never do. Sharon concluded that there is a story behind every person we may judge, a story we need to hear.

The second came from Tony, who speaks no Spanish. One day he went to a small store just to buy a Coke. Three large men who were locals came in after him and stood right behind him. Tony heard the word "gringo", and knew they were speaking about him. He did not feel safe and almost left. Then one of the three spoke to him in English. He said how much they appreciated that we would visit their town. They spoke for a while, and then the man gave Tony a bug hug as he left with his Coke.

Today is the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord. It begins his public ministry with the quesion, "who are you?" As we heard in the Gospel, this is a quesion that was first asked of John the Baptist, as many of that time thought he was the promised Messiah. John always said, no, I am not he, but I will point to him.

Then at the Baptism of Jesus at the Jordan by John, we hear Jesus' deepest identity revealed: "You are my beloved Son. With you I am well pleased."

On the day of our own Baptism, the Lord spoke those same words of each of us: You are my beloved. With you I am well pleased.

Through the years, I have come to believe that the main spiritual problem for many of us is not that we think too much of ourselves. Our problem is that we think too little of ourselves. We live lives that are beneath our dignity, and we do not fully realize the great dignity that the Lord gives us through our Baptism.

So went we are asked, "who are you?", there is much to us that giving our name, where we are from, or what we do. None of those get to the heart of our identity. For me to say that I am a Cyclone fan, or that I am pastor of the best parish in the world, or that I am part of the Seda family, tells you a bit about who I am. But it does not capture who I really am at the deepest core of my soul.

The best answer I can give to someone who asked me, "who are you?" is this:

I AM A CHILD OF THE KING
I AM GOD'S BELOVED . . .

and so is each one of you.

Amen.