Identity
by Miriam Hogan, O.C.D.
One of the most popular ads on television shows two older women sitting on a couch talking like men. While I personally dislike this commercial, I began to think about the message it conveys and the response it is receiving. People are becoming increasingly concerned about the security and misuse of their personal identities. In the spiritual life are we not also being called to a new awareness of our personal and family identities? Also, if this is the case, then how are we responding to our personal needs and to the needs of those, who are counting on our support to help them grow closer to God? What are the values that we are living and seeking to convey to others? To whom or to what are we most committed, and how is this commitment expressed?
The Way Everyday Life Is Changed
Thomas Merton once commented to the young monks whom he was teaching that, “one should be able to tell a monk simply by the way he closes a door.” Perhaps, Merton who didn’t like noise was being disturbed by the younger men banging doors. On the other hand, we also know that he was trying to convey a truth about the way everyday life was changed when a person responded to a religious monastic vocation. Yet, Merton was speaking to the monks shortly after Vatican II. One wonders what his response might be in our Post Modern World.
Further, the science of psychology has made us more aware of obsessive compulsive behavior resulting in too much value being placed on non-essential or non-sense behavioral patterns. Yet, not everything is relative. Silence and solitude are values that still need our attention. Merton’s comment to the young monks about silence is still valid for those who wish to live the interior life today. The gospel continues to challenge us to make our external behavior reflect our internal values.1
A New Name And Title
Sometimes we can express what is internal and share with others an aspect of our own identity that is both personal and unique. For example, here at the monastery we can choose to receive a new name and a title when we become a member of the community. In taking a particular name/title a Sister receives both a special grace and support in her spiritual life. While many people are aware of the significance of taking a new name as they begin a new life, they may be unfamiliar with the tradition of taking a title. St. Teresa of Jesus alerted us to the significance of her title when she wrote that the Lord appeared to her and told her that if she was “Teresa of Jesus, then I am Jesus of Teresa”.2
Indeed, Teresa was secure in her identity. Furthermore, she desired the same kind of intimate security and friendship with God in prayer for her nuns.
We find a similar message being voiced by Pope Benedict XVI when he writes to the World Youth: "Against the tide of moral relativism which, by recognizing nothing as definitive, traps people within a futile and insatiable bid for novelty, the young generation is rediscovering the satisfying quest for goodness and truth."3 We pray that the Youth, and that all people, may find their deepest identity and security in the goodness and truth of Christ.
Finally, returning to the old women on the couch, perhaps one should not invest too much time or effort into trying to explain why a certain commercial makes people laugh._____
1Then the Lord said to him, ‘Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness’. Lk: 11:392http://www.ocdfriarsvocation.com/archive/2004/December-04/December-04.html
3http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=89359