My topic today will be identity and the struggles that people have with their identity. The winner of the Pulitzer Prize for drama last year was Sana Toossi. She is an American playwright who wrote a play called “English.”
The play takes place in Iran in 2008 and the story is about people who want to learn English or increase their proficiency in English. It turns out to be a story about personal identity. One character is 18 years old and she wants to abandon her Iranian identity and become an American. One character is completely happy with her identity as a doctor, but she needs to learn English so that she can work in Australia. Another character is happy to be Iranian but needs to learn English so she can communicate with her grandchildren in Canada. The fourth character has lived half of his life in America and half of his life in Iran and he has an identity crisis. He is torn in two. He has an identity crisis. He just can’t decide whether he is American or Iranian. This play is very true to life. Having an identity is a big issue for every person.
We begin our lives as children and we have an identity crisis when we become teenagers. We have to abandon our childish ways. As young adults we need to choose a career and decide on marriage or the single life. And then there’s the identity crisis that no one wants to talk about: the mid-life crisis. And one day we have to choose the identity called retirement. Life is all about moving from one identity to another.
And now I will switch to a person in the Bible who struggled with his identity. When the Babylonians destroyed the city of Jerusalem in 587 B.C., Jeremiah was the voice of gloom and doom. He said, “The Babylonian army has destroyed our city. They have burned down our homes and the children are in the streets dying of hunger. They beg for bread, but no one has bread. No one can help them. Most of the adults have died. Only a few remain. And they are covered with blood from the wounds that they have sustained from the swords of the enemy. They are covered with bruises from the stones that the enemy soldiers have thrown at them.:.”
Then Jeremiah said to the people, “We deserve what we are getting because we disobeyed the commandments that God gave us. There is no hope for us.” Yes, Jeremiah was the prophet of gloom and doom. But, suddenly, in the midst of all this destruction, Jeremiah took on a new identity. He became the voice of hope. He said this in Chapter 3 of Lamentations: “ I call this to mind and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. The mercy of God is never exhausted. There is no limit to God’s love and mercy. God’s mercy is new every morning. That is why I have hope.” Jeremiah became the voice of hope because he knew that the future will be good because God will be in the future.
His story reminds me of an American singer who is a voice of hope today. Her name is Nancy Honeytree. Some of her music is on YouTube and these are the words of her most famous song: “Dear God, I believe that you are up to something good. I don’t understand why this problem is happening. I believe that you are up to something good. Dear God, I believe that you will never abandon us. I believe that you are up to something good.” Nancy Honeytree is a voice of hope.
And so is Pope Francis because he has announced a hope-filled theme for the Year 2025. Pope Francis has said that it will be a Year of Hope and he is calling everyone to be a tangible sign of hope for those experiencing hardships of any kind.
In today’s Gospel Jesus declares his identity to a crowd of 5,000 people after multiplying the loaves and fish. Jesus begins His Bread of Life sermon by saying that “I am the Bread of Life.” He has multiplied the loaves of bread and given them food for their bodies and now He is giving them spiritual food... food for their souls. Both kinds of food give them strength. The daily bread gives them the strength that they need to perform their daily tasks. And the Bread of Life gives them strength for the spiritual work that they have to do.
What do we mean by spiritual work? First of all, there is prayer. Prayer requires strength because it is hard work. It is hard to talk to God whom we cannot see, and it is hard to listen to God whom we cannot see. Another spiritual work is serving others without expecting any reward. We will need spiritual strength follow the Ten Commandments and the Eight Beatitudes. And we will need even more spiritual strength in order to forgive those who have hurt us. We will need a ton of spiritual strength to take on virtues like humility and charity.
Thankfully, that spiritual strength will come to us every time that we receive the Bread of Life in Holy Communion. Jesus is the Bread of Life. That is His identity. Jesus is the Bread of Life and He is in the Holy Eucharist and His Life enters into our lives when we go to communion. His Risen and Glorified Body enters our bodies. His Life becomes one with our lives and we receive spiritual strength as a result. We now take a moment to thank Jesus for being the Bread of Life and for giving Himself to us.
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