Who are you?
This is the critical question raised by Benedict in his 5th rung of humility:
“The fifth step of humility is that we do not conceal from the abbot or prioress any sinful thoughts entering our hearts, or any wrongs committed in secret, but rather confess them humbly.”
In these words, Joan Chittister says, Benedict is saying “we must cease to wear our masks, stop pretending to be perfect.”
We too often bring to God or to others the inauthentic person we wish we were rather than the authentic person we truly are. David Benner writes in his book The Gift of Being Yourself:
“In all of creation, identity is a challenge only for humans. A tulip knows exactly what it is. It is never tempted by false ways of being. Nor does it face complicated decisions in the process of becoming. So it is with dogs, rocks, trees, stars, amoebas, electrons and all other things. All give glory to God by being exactly what they are. For in being what God means them to be, they are obeying him. Humans, however, encounter a more challenging existence. We think. We consider options. We decide. We act. We doubt. Simple being is tremendously difficult to achieve and fully authentic being is extremely rare. Body and soul contain thousands of possibilities out of which you can build many identities. But in only one of these will you find your true self that has been hidden in Christ for all eternity. Only in one will you find your unique vocation and deepest fulfilment … There is a way of being for each of us that is as natural and deeply congruent as the life of the tulip. Beneath the roles and masks lies a possibility of a self that is as unique as a snowflake. It is an originality that has existed since God first loved us into existence. Our true self-in-Christ is the only self that will support authenticity. It and it alone provide an identity that is eternal”
Benedict, and Jesus, call us to live out our true-self, with its light and its dark. It’s the spirit found in this teaching of Jesus:
“He told his next story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people: “Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax man. The Pharisee posed and prayed like this: ‘Oh, God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, crooks, adulterers, or, heaven forbid, like this tax man. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.’ “Meanwhile the tax man, slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up, said, ‘God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.’” Jesus commented, “This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face, but if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.” (Lk. 18:9-14 MSG)
Being honest about who we are, rather than pretending to be someone we are not, is the path toward freedom. And the path toward the right treatment of others. It protects us from the superiority seen in the Pharisee in Jesus’ story and thus from the ways we so often devalue others for who they are.
Who are you? Really? Spend time today considering this, remembering that God delights in who you truly are.
