Reflection on the Holy Name
Reflection on the Holy Name
His Name was called Jesus
His Name was called Jesus
The Circumcision
The first day of the year, which corresponds with the Octave Day of the Feast of the Nativity, is in this, as in most Catholic countries, a festival of obligation. The Church instituted it in memory of the circumcision, to which our Lord submitted on this day through love for us. It is then today that He begins to fulfill His office of Mediator, in taking on Himself the mark, the suffering, and the debt of sin; in offering Himself as a victim of expiation, and shedding His blood for the first time. To this oblation of infinite price, He joins the offering of His whole self, and of every instant of His mortal life. What love on the part of God for men! Let us give Him back love for love.
We enter today on a New Year; let us consecrate the beginning of it to that God who has so loved us, and let this consecration be so entire that every day and every minute shall be employed in His service and to His greater glory. Let us offer to Him also our soul and body, together with the blood that flows in our veins, and be ready to shed the last drop of it in proof of our fidelity and our love.
Resolutions:
From this first day of the year, I will earnestly endeavor that my conduct may correspond with this offering and consecration of myself.
The New Year
The blood that Jesus sheds for us in the Circumcision is the blood of the New Covenant: "sanguis meus novi Testament." (Matt. 26: 28)
A covenant which ought to renew the face of the earth by causing reality to succeed to figures, the liberty of the divine adoption to slavery, the law of charity to the law of fear, which characterized the old Covenant.
Let us profit by the circumstance of the New Year, and of the wonderful renewal wrought in the world by the great mystery of this day, to renew in our hearts an increase of fervor and of generosity in the service of God. May this year be a year of fervor and progress! It will pass rapidly, like that which has just ended. If God gives us the grace to see its end, how glad and happy we shall be to have passed it in holiness!
The Holy Name
The angel had said to Joseph: "She shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins." (Matt. 1:21)
It was the custom among the Israelites to give a name to their male children with the circumcision, the eighth day after their birth. This name was generally taken from some circumstance relating to the birth of the child, or from a qualify which it was hoped the child would be endowed with.
Our Heavenly Father alone knew the unspeakable qualities which were to characterize the Word made Flesh, and He only could give Him a name suited to His divine mission. He gave Him the name of Jesus - which signifies Savior. That name, so beautiful, so glorious, the Divine Child does not wish to bear for one moment without fulfilling its meaning; even at the moment of His circumcision, He showed Himself a Savior by shedding for us that blood, a single drop of which is more than sufficient for the ransom and salvation of the whole world.
In the ancient law, the newly-born became by circumcision the children of Abraham, and inheritors of the promise which he received. Far happier than they, we became by Holy Baptism, of which Circumcision was but a type, the adopted children of God and inheritors of His kingdom; we become Christians, disciples, and brethren of Christ, and co-heirs with Him.
There is a glorious meaning in these titles: But let us remember that if, instead of following in the footsteps of Jesus, we fail to accomplish their solemn meaning; if we bear them in vain; if we dishonor them by our conduct, they will become a judgment and a severe punishment for us.
Resolutions:
Let us so act that, during this New Year - all in us shall correspond to the dignity of the great name we bear: Catholic.
Greatness of the Name of Jesus
The name of Jesus is great in its origin. It is God Himself who has given it by the ministry of an archangel. It is great in its signification. Men have sometimes in token of gratitude given to other men the name of savior of their country. Never have they dreamt of giving to any one the name of Savior of the World, a name whose meaning, in the full extent of the word, has been so wonderfully realized by the Son of God made man.
With what respect and with what religious attention ought we not to pronounce this great and Holy Name, "which is," says the Apostle, "above all names." (Philip. 2:9) Accordingly, from the earliest ages of Christianity, the custom was introduced and became general of bowing or uncovering the head when pronouncing or hearing others pronounce it.
Do you not often fail to pay to it due veneration, by pronouncing it perhaps without attention or devotion even in your prayers?
Resolutions:
Let us during the coming year redouble our efforts to honor and cause to be honored as much as we can, the Holy Name of Jesus.
The Merit of the Name of Jesus
The noble name borne by a son solely by right of heritage is no great merit to him, because its greatness is due to the glory of another. Not so with the name borne by the Son of God. He acquired it by His own merits; by redeeming, at the sacrifice of His life, the human race from the pains of death, which it had incurred, and in re-instating it in its rights to a heavenly inheritance. Was there ever a name or a title better deserved?
Your names as adopted of God - of brother or sister of Jesus, which you bear, are also titles of great value; but they are not due to your merits. You owe them to the grace of Baptism, to the special grace of your holy vocation. Nevertheless, it is your duty to prove yourself worthy of them; it is your duty to co-operate with grace, so as worthily to bear the names in which you justly glory.
Up to this moment, this grace has not failed you; but have you corresponded with it? Has your co-operation been generous and persevering? Has it been in proportion to the glorious names you bear?
Resolutions:
During the coming year, try to neglect nothing that may assist us attaining that end.
Power of the Name of Jesus
"At the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth." (Philip. 2:10)
All things must submit at the invocation of the name of Jesus. By the invocation of this name, the Apostles worked the most astonishing miracles, and the faithful drove out demons from the bodies of the pagans. By the invocation of the name of Jesus, the martyrs of all ages have triumphed over their torments, the confessors and the virgins have resisted the seductions of the world. In this sacred name the Church terminates all her prayers, and in it she desires we should find strength and consolation in our last agony.
With what confidence ought we not then to invoke it in our temptations, our troubles, our perplexities, and in all our undertakings; and this the more because Jesus has told us Himself, "If you ask the Father anything in my name, He will give it you." (John 16:23)
Let us, then, become familiar with some ejaculatory prayer in which we shall find the name of Jesus, so that it will come naturally to our lips in critical moments, and above all at the awful moment when we shall be struggling with death.
Oh! may our last words then be: "Jesus, Jesus - be unto me, my Jesus!"
We enter today on a New Year; let us consecrate the beginning of it to that God who has so loved us, and let this consecration be so entire that every day and every minute shall be employed in His service and to His greater glory. Let us offer to Him also our soul and body, together with the blood that flows in our veins, and be ready to shed the last drop of it in proof of our fidelity and our love.
Resolutions:
From this first day of the year, I will earnestly endeavor that my conduct may correspond with this offering and consecration of myself.
The New Year
The blood that Jesus sheds for us in the Circumcision is the blood of the New Covenant: "sanguis meus novi Testament." (Matt. 26: 28)
A covenant which ought to renew the face of the earth by causing reality to succeed to figures, the liberty of the divine adoption to slavery, the law of charity to the law of fear, which characterized the old Covenant.
Let us profit by the circumstance of the New Year, and of the wonderful renewal wrought in the world by the great mystery of this day, to renew in our hearts an increase of fervor and of generosity in the service of God. May this year be a year of fervor and progress! It will pass rapidly, like that which has just ended. If God gives us the grace to see its end, how glad and happy we shall be to have passed it in holiness!
The Holy Name
The angel had said to Joseph: "She shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins." (Matt. 1:21)
It was the custom among the Israelites to give a name to their male children with the circumcision, the eighth day after their birth. This name was generally taken from some circumstance relating to the birth of the child, or from a qualify which it was hoped the child would be endowed with.
Our Heavenly Father alone knew the unspeakable qualities which were to characterize the Word made Flesh, and He only could give Him a name suited to His divine mission. He gave Him the name of Jesus - which signifies Savior. That name, so beautiful, so glorious, the Divine Child does not wish to bear for one moment without fulfilling its meaning; even at the moment of His circumcision, He showed Himself a Savior by shedding for us that blood, a single drop of which is more than sufficient for the ransom and salvation of the whole world.
In the ancient law, the newly-born became by circumcision the children of Abraham, and inheritors of the promise which he received. Far happier than they, we became by Holy Baptism, of which Circumcision was but a type, the adopted children of God and inheritors of His kingdom; we become Christians, disciples, and brethren of Christ, and co-heirs with Him.
There is a glorious meaning in these titles: But let us remember that if, instead of following in the footsteps of Jesus, we fail to accomplish their solemn meaning; if we bear them in vain; if we dishonor them by our conduct, they will become a judgment and a severe punishment for us.
Resolutions:
Let us so act that, during this New Year - all in us shall correspond to the dignity of the great name we bear: Catholic.
Greatness of the Name of Jesus
The name of Jesus is great in its origin. It is God Himself who has given it by the ministry of an archangel. It is great in its signification. Men have sometimes in token of gratitude given to other men the name of savior of their country. Never have they dreamt of giving to any one the name of Savior of the World, a name whose meaning, in the full extent of the word, has been so wonderfully realized by the Son of God made man.
With what respect and with what religious attention ought we not to pronounce this great and Holy Name, "which is," says the Apostle, "above all names." (Philip. 2:9) Accordingly, from the earliest ages of Christianity, the custom was introduced and became general of bowing or uncovering the head when pronouncing or hearing others pronounce it.
Do you not often fail to pay to it due veneration, by pronouncing it perhaps without attention or devotion even in your prayers?
Resolutions:
Let us during the coming year redouble our efforts to honor and cause to be honored as much as we can, the Holy Name of Jesus.
The Merit of the Name of Jesus
The noble name borne by a son solely by right of heritage is no great merit to him, because its greatness is due to the glory of another. Not so with the name borne by the Son of God. He acquired it by His own merits; by redeeming, at the sacrifice of His life, the human race from the pains of death, which it had incurred, and in re-instating it in its rights to a heavenly inheritance. Was there ever a name or a title better deserved?
Your names as adopted of God - of brother or sister of Jesus, which you bear, are also titles of great value; but they are not due to your merits. You owe them to the grace of Baptism, to the special grace of your holy vocation. Nevertheless, it is your duty to prove yourself worthy of them; it is your duty to co-operate with grace, so as worthily to bear the names in which you justly glory.
Up to this moment, this grace has not failed you; but have you corresponded with it? Has your co-operation been generous and persevering? Has it been in proportion to the glorious names you bear?
Resolutions:
During the coming year, try to neglect nothing that may assist us attaining that end.
Power of the Name of Jesus
"At the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth." (Philip. 2:10)
All things must submit at the invocation of the name of Jesus. By the invocation of this name, the Apostles worked the most astonishing miracles, and the faithful drove out demons from the bodies of the pagans. By the invocation of the name of Jesus, the martyrs of all ages have triumphed over their torments, the confessors and the virgins have resisted the seductions of the world. In this sacred name the Church terminates all her prayers, and in it she desires we should find strength and consolation in our last agony.
With what confidence ought we not then to invoke it in our temptations, our troubles, our perplexities, and in all our undertakings; and this the more because Jesus has told us Himself, "If you ask the Father anything in my name, He will give it you." (John 16:23)
Let us, then, become familiar with some ejaculatory prayer in which we shall find the name of Jesus, so that it will come naturally to our lips in critical moments, and above all at the awful moment when we shall be struggling with death.
Oh! may our last words then be: "Jesus, Jesus - be unto me, my Jesus!"
- Rev. Fr. Bruno Vercruysse, S.J.
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Permalink Reply by Daniel M on
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St Joseph Earhtly father to GOD'S own Son Pray for us. Thank you For Building the Staircase in the Chapel of Loretto in Santa Fey. It is a masterpiece that a Builder like me will aleays see as a true miracle. How did you find Large leaf Pine in Santa Fey? How did you build it with no steel, no nails. No center support?
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