Jn 12:44-50
44Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me believes not only in me but also in the one who sent me, 45and whoever sees me sees the one who sent me. 46I came into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness. 47And if anyone hears my words and does not observe them, I do not condemn him, for I did not come to condemn the world but to save the world. 48Whoever rejects me and does not accept my words has something to judge him: the word that I spoke, it will condemn him on the last day, 49because I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and speak. 50And I know that his commandment is eternal life. So what I say, I say as the Father told me.”
THE FATHER COMMANDED ME WHAT TO SAY. We may be our own person, but whether we like it or not, we carry in our words and actions the personality of our parents and the bearing of all the people who helped form us. I believe that I have the head of my father but the heart of my mother. I carry in myself, too, the elderly Benedictine Sisters who loved me as their small altar boy. I have imprints in my mind of the lessons learned from my grade school and high school teachers. Jesus is so identified with the Father that whoever sees and hears him sees and hears the Father.
It is said that we are formed by both the people who love us and the people who refuse to love us. I believe that this is only partially true. We are formed only by the people we allow to stay in our souls long after they have been gone. God is one Spirit who will refuse to leave our hearts even if we deny him.