Our Sermons
23 August 2026
Who Do You Say I Am?
One of the great advantages of travelling is the incredible opportunity to meet people whose cultural, linguistic, historical, and geographical backgrounds are different from our own. The food, the music, the landscape, and the people who inhabit a place are all part of what we call culture, and culture helps to define identity.We should also acknowledge that islands occupy a special place in this conversation. For centuries, many islands experienced a certain degree of isolation, which helped preserve and strengthen distinctive cultural characteristics. Corsica, the island where Napoleon was born, is a fascinating example. Although it is part of France and has been profoundly influenced by France politically, administratively, and culturally, the people of Corsica are proud to call themselves Corse. There is a strong nationalist movement that seeks greater autonomy and promotes the preservation of the Corsican language.The Corsican language is everywhere. City names, landmarks, and local restaurants are often identified in Corsican rather than French. At the same time, Corsica has its own traditional music which, to Italian ears, bears a strong Sardinian flavour. The Corsican language itself reveals remarkable influences from Sardinia and its dialects. Fascinating, isn't it?
Identities are an extraordinary phenomenon to study and reflect upon.
My brief excursus into Corsican culture serves as an introduction to a broader reflection on identity. Whenever I have the opportunity to immerse myself in a new cultural context, I feel positively challenged in my own sense of identity. I want to absorb—even if only briefly—the beauty and goodness of a culture expressed through its cuisine, music, traditions, spiritual heritage, and language.In doing so, I realise that identity is not static but dynamic.
Who am I?
The short answer is that I am Italian. But, to be honest, that is not entirely true. The person I am today has also been shaped by my years in Argentina and Latin America, by my time in Spain, and by my experiences here.
Who are you?
You may struggle to say something meaningful about yourself if you forget to include the people and cultures that have profoundly shaped your life.In today's Gospel, however, Jesus challenges us in a rather surprising way. He does not encourage his disciples to reflect directly on their own identity. Instead, he begins by asking a seemingly simple question:"Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"The answers are unsurprising. People compare him to John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. After all, Jesus preached similar themes and could easily have been identified with any of them.
Then Jesus makes the question personal:"But who do you say that I am?"Again, the answer appears straightforward."You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."Peter responds without hesitation.What fascinates me most is Jesus' response to Peter and the other disciples. Here we find the unexpected twist in the Gospel narrative. Jesus gives Peter a new identity—or perhaps we should say that he reveals and reshapes the identity that was already there.The question about Jesus' identity becomes an extraordinary opportunity for Jesus to reveal Peter's identity. Ironically, Peter, perhaps feeling proud of his answer, gives Jesus the opportunity to tell him who he truly is. How wonderful! Like Peter—and perhaps like the people of Corsica—we often think we know who we are. We know our traditions, our language, our culture, our land, and our history. Yet we easily forget that the one who truly knows us is God alone.
In a world where identities are increasingly blurred by the overwhelming flow of information and constant cultural interchange, we are paradoxically tempted to construct rigid boundaries around ourselves. This is precisely what extremist movements do: they root identity in fear, exclusion, and distrust. Jesus points us in a different direction. He reminds us that there is a deeper layer to our identity, one that informs everything else and gives meaning and purpose to what we call the self.
When Jesus says to Peter:
"You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
He is not speaking only to Peter.
In a sense, he speaks to each one of us. He invites us to recognise how little we truly know about ourselves. We are often very good at labelling ourselves, yet we fail to understand the depths of our inner life. Through his words, Jesus reveals who we really are. The encounter with the divine becomes a revelation of our deepest identity. But Jesus goes even further.
Our great temptation is to live according to our own expectations—and sometimes those expectations can be quite ambitious. Yet Jesus calls us beyond them. More than that, he inspires us to exceed them. Identity, then, should not become a fortified compound, heavily guarded and defended. Rather, it should resemble an ocean of light and beauty: vast, welcoming, and alive. The ocean remains itself, yet it embraces countless forms of life without losing its nature. In the same way, an identity grounded in God becomes richer through encounter rather than poorer through difference.
Nothing is perceived as a threat; everything becomes a gift of the Spirit. Amen.