The last sentence of today’s first reading has caught my attention: It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians. Apparently, it was a derogatory name, like more recently the name Moonies was or even initially the name Jesuit was in the 16th century. But the name Christian stuck and it came to mean –it still means– follower of Christ, which is what we are supposed to be. Our baptismal records allow us to verify that we are Christians. But, how do we know that we are indeed followers of Christ? Imagine for a moment that being a Christian were declared a crime (it has been and effectively is still so in some places) and that baptismal records had been hidden to protect us. If accused of being Christian, could we be convicted on the evidence of our lives? Would our way of living give us away as Christians?

Jesus expected the evidence of his own life and works to be convincing, as we read in today’s gospel reading: The works I do in my Father’s name testify to me. Yet he says: you do not believe. Maybe the evidence of our own way of living is not enough for others, but is it convincing for ourselves? As we look at the way we live, do we feel assured that we live our faith consistently? I am confident that we are at least not totally inconsistent, as the fact that you are taking time to read this reflection would appear to indicate. But we need to let the Lord be the judge, since we are not good judges in our own case.