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September 24, 2020Without a doubt, Hispanics and Anglo-Saxons are different in many ways. Our interests, meals, history and stories, figures, etc. One of the ways we reflect our differences is the way in which we come to discover a person's identity.
For example, when I meet a person of Anglo-Saxon origin, usually the first question they ask me is "what do you do?" Like one could find out who I am by knowing what I do. On the contrary, when I meet a Latino person, his first question is usually "where are you from?" It seems as if our origin described something about who we are. And, while this is certainly the case for both, there is something much bigger than our profession or country of origin that determines who we are.
Identity is what makes us who we are. The characteristics, beliefs, ideas and personality that makes us who we are, different from all other beings. Someone can say that I am Hispanic/Latino as my first identity because this marks my behavior, my first language, my food, my tastes, my origin and the way I express myself. Identity is forming throughout our lives. My family, history, faith and choices are forming my identity.
I'm Latino and I'll be Latino all my life. My worldview and reality are marked by that fact. I am and will be for the rest of my days and it's something I'm extremely proud of. However, and without a doubt, my first and most important identity, the one that should identify me and stand out above any other, is that I am a Catholic Christian.
Saint Paul says that he who finds Christ, who is called a Christian, must "be transformed." And transformed by a renewal of your mind (Rom 12:2). He who is of Christ must in a few words change his belief system, his behavior, his way of expressing himself, his way of seeing the world and relating to it. He knows that his origin and destiny are eternal, and his ultimate homeland is not from here, but in eternal friendship with God.
I am the one who is transformed by the encounter with Christ. And, as I am transformed, I transform what surrounds me. My identity can't be the same. When I speak, when I act and stand before the world, it is my Catholic identity that must prevail. In fact, God changes the name to those he calls throughout the Bible, precisely to mark a new identity in them.
"The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God," says the Catechism of the Catholic Church (27). We are his, we belong to him. We have been created not only by him, but for him. We find our fullness in him. Our identity comes from him. Or, as Saint Paul says, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body (1 Cor 6:19-20).
My first and most important identity is therefore not marked by my place of birth nor by the color of my skin nor by the language I speak. My identity is given to me by God as his son, it is a gift from him. His desire, his name, is inscribed in my heart. And, when I love, I must do it by permeating his name in every action. And, his will must be etched in my mind, for it has been transformed. And, when I see, I see with his eyes and my behavior must be guided by him. God must have the first place in our lives.
So, I invite you from now on. When you meet someone, don't look at them from human eyes, but from God's perspective. Knowing that first and foremost he or she is a son or daughter of God. That his/her identity, that which makes him/her who he/she is, is not the outside, but the name she has inscribed in her heart.
My ministry in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City is intrinsically tied to the Hispanic community. In some manner, my responsibility is Hispanic ministry. However, my ministry should be one that is not only Hispanic but is first and above all a ministry with a clear and unequivocal Catholic identity.
In every ministry of the Church, the first and most important identity we must consider is Catholic. If the only thing that guides our ministry is ethnicity, race or language, we will never be able to build the unity the Lord asked of us. "One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all" (Eph 4:5-6).
The challenge in front of us is to build a culture and identity that is intrinsically and unequivocally Catholic, particularly among Hispanic Catholics in Oklahoma City.