Our Heavenly Citizenship

[written for The Southern Cross, newspaper of the Diocese of Savannah]

Saint Paul wrote the Philippians, “but our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” In the last week I have been asked five times if I am a United States citizen. Each time I answered “no” to baffled hearers. I had never been asked that question so closely together in the twenty-one years I have lived here.

As Catholics, we believe a person’s identity is not determined primarily by a person’s earthly citizenship, but rather by his or her heavenly citizenship. All the baptized are citizens of heaven and this is the foundation of our personal identity. At baptism we all become adopted children of God, heirs to the eternal kingdom. Our country of birth receives us into the world, but our rebirth in Christ inserts our souls into eternity.

Immigrants who are displaced from their home country oftentimes struggle with their identity. Immigrants are always identified as alien in their host country even if they arrive as children, and when they return to their native country, they are usually received as foreigners since they no longer live there. The immigrant does not belong to either place.

I recall many years ago struggling to identify home. Home may be my native country, but I came to the United States as a child. Home may be here since I spent my formative years and most of my life in the United States. Yet my certain home is the Church. Not only is the Church an institution present in both native land and host country, but it sustains the immigrant with God’s grace and a solid community life. Thus the importance of the Church to reach out to immigrant communities since it provides a foundation for their identity.

A solid identity leads to peaceful, integrated, faithful people. Those without a solid identity meddle with risky behaviors such as gangs, drugs and even suicide. No wonder Hispanic youth in the United States have the highest rate of suicide attempts among youth (CDC). Their identity as human beings with infinite value is weak, and the Church can help them strengthen it.

I recall an elderly Mexican lady tell me months ago, “Father, I am not wanted here, but if I return to Mexico, I would be killed. I am not wanted here or there. When will I find a place where I am wanted?”

Our citizenship is in heaven and not on earth. All are wanted in the Church. All are needed in the Church. All belong in the Church. It is within the Church that distinctions disappear as we all share in the one citizenship of our true home.