The TV programme Who do you think you are ? has a devoted following. No doubt it holds great interest for those who are curious about their own pedigree and lineage. Who we are is always an interesting question to pose. Many would respond by saying what they are rather than answering the question directly, because it is easier to give your role than to contemplate the far bigger question of WHO we actually are.

The answer to the question who we are has several stems including our background and upbringing, as well as the more scientific elements known as genes and DNA. There is no doubt about it we are all complex individuals ! Perhaps the real answer to who we are is found when we begin to examine how we have handled the life-experiences that have been dealt us and also how we view the challenges that still lay ahead of us. The responses we make to these scenarios are perhaps the most telling of WHO we truly are. As someone privileged to witness ordinary people respond in truly incredible ways to the cards dealt them in the game of life I can honestly say that I meet many outstanding human beings who would see themselves as simply getting on with life.

St. Paul is a great leveller when it comes to speaking about the human condition: “We are only the earthenware jars that hold this treasure.” (2 Cor. 4:7) The treasure he refers to is the God-given potential that lies at the heart of each one of us. This isn’t the preserve of the celebrity caste or of those with great wealth. Instead it is a priceless gift given freely to each of us and in so many it shines out brightly in the manner in which they live their lives. WHO these people are is well known to them, and also those whose lives they influence. They are the ones who in our lives take the ordinary and transform it into the extraordinary. For their presence we have a lot to be thankful for.

By the Very Revd. Fr. Nicholas Hird, Parish Priest of Our Lady