THE HOLY NAME OF JESUS
“His name was called Jesus, which was called by the angel before He was conceived in the womb” (Luke II, 21).
First Prelude: Consider that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bend in heaven, on earth, and under the earth.
Second Prelude: O my Jesus, grant me the grace to understand rightly the power of Thy holy name, that through It, my mind, my heart, and all my actions may be sanctified.”
FIRST POINT
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE HOLY NAME
As the Israelites received a name at Circumcision, so the Son of God, when in the form of a servant He submitted Himself to that painful ceremony, willed that St. Joseph and His spotless Mother should give Him a name. This was merely the fulfillment of the Divine Will manifested to Mary by the words of Gabriel: “Thou shalt call His name Jesus” (Luke I, 31), and to St. Joseph in the revelation: “And thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins” (Matt. I, 21). The heavenly Father reserved to Himself the right and power to give to His incarnate Son a name that should designate the sublime nature of His Being and divine mission.
The name, Jesus, tells us what the Son of God is for us,—our Saviour and Redeemer. With the name, Jesus, began the work of our redemption. By His voluntary submission to the law, He offered Himself to His Eternal Father as a victim, eager to embrace the privations and sufferings of a life to be terminated by a cruel and bloody death on the cross. “He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross,” says the Apostle; “for which cause God also hath exalted Him and hath given Him a name which is above all names” (Phil. II, 8-9). Let us thank our amiable Saviour for having assumed the name, Jesus, for love of us and having willed to shed the first drops of His Precious Blood, even in infancy. In grateful love, we will reverence His holy name during this new year by placing all our trust in Its infinite power. The Incarnate God, in the mystery of the Circumcision, has given to all mankind the sweetest and most joyous salutation in His own sweet name, Jesus—Saviour—and as a further pledge of His love, He has added to it the rarest gifts,—the example of the most perfect obedience, the deepest humility and the most complete sacrifice. Shall we leave such love unheeded by neglecting to imitate these virtues so dear to Him, and so necessary for us? By our special calling to the religious state, the sweet Saviour wishes to impart to us the fulness of His virtues, if we but surrender ourselves wholly to Him, by perfect conformity to His adorable Will. To the practice of which particular virtue does the love of my Divine Saviour incite me?
SECOND POINT
WE SHOULD DO ALL IN THE NAME OF JESUS
The Apostle St. Paul admonishes us in his epistle to the Colossians: “All whatsoever you do in work or in word, do all in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ” (Col. 3, 17). In imitation of Jesus, Who, in the moment of His conception, offered to the Eternal Father solely for His honor and glory, His mortal life with all its privations and sufferings, and Who in His Circumcision gave His own Blood, as a pledge of His incomprehensible love for us, thus becoming in very truth our “Jesus,” we too will give our good God every day, hour and minute of this new year. In the name of Jesus, we will offer Him our thoughts, words, works and sufferings, that they may tend to His greater honor and glory. We will, in future, live and labor but for love of Him.
As the Spouse in the Canticle bore the name of her beloved on her arm, so we should bear the name of Jesus in our hearts, in our thoughts, and on our lips. “All for Jesus,” should be our motto,—naught for the world, and naught for self and selfish interests. All labor and rest, all joy and pain,—all shall be for Jesus. Such sentiments are befitting a soul consecrated to God, a soul espoused by the bonds of religious vows to the dear Saviour. Jesus should live and labor in us, and we, in all our thoughts, words and works, should live in Him. Our Saviour Himself has said: “He that abideth in Me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit” (John 15, 5). Let us permit the dear Saviour to produce in us these fruits of true virtue by our constant and intimate union with Him. Let us begin each day’s work, every occupation, with the invocation of His sweet name, “For there is,” says St. Paul, “no other name under heaven given to men whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4, 12). Do I always pronounce the holy name of Jesus with due reverence and devotion? Do I always strive to perform my actions with the invocation of this sweet name and in union with my dear Saviour?
Affections: O divine, O sweet, O glorious name, which the heavenly Father had known and pronounced from all eternity! Ah, impress Thyself upon our souls, that through Thee they may be made worthy of eternal salvation. Relying upon Thy power, we will begin the new year with the firm resolve to die to self, in order to live for Him, Who died for love of us. May Thy name, O dear Jesus, be incessantly in our hearts and upon our lips, that through It we may conquer our enemies and persevere in good to the end. Grant, O Jesus, that having tenderly loved and honored Thy glorious name on earth, we may be made worthy to unite with Thy angels and saints in singing Its praises throughout eternity.
Resolution: We will frequently pronounce the holy name of Jesus with love and confidence.
Spiritual Bouquet: “O Jesus, be to me Jesus, and save me.”
Prayer: O Jesus, living in Mary . . .
“His name was called Jesus, which was called by the angel before He was conceived in the womb” (Luke II, 21).
First Prelude: Consider that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bend in heaven, on earth, and under the earth.
Second Prelude: O my Jesus, grant me the grace to understand rightly the power of Thy holy name, that through It, my mind, my heart, and all my actions may be sanctified.”
FIRST POINT
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE HOLY NAME
As the Israelites received a name at Circumcision, so the Son of God, when in the form of a servant He submitted Himself to that painful ceremony, willed that St. Joseph and His spotless Mother should give Him a name. This was merely the fulfillment of the Divine Will manifested to Mary by the words of Gabriel: “Thou shalt call His name Jesus” (Luke I, 31), and to St. Joseph in the revelation: “And thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins” (Matt. I, 21). The heavenly Father reserved to Himself the right and power to give to His incarnate Son a name that should designate the sublime nature of His Being and divine mission.
The name, Jesus, tells us what the Son of God is for us,—our Saviour and Redeemer. With the name, Jesus, began the work of our redemption. By His voluntary submission to the law, He offered Himself to His Eternal Father as a victim, eager to embrace the privations and sufferings of a life to be terminated by a cruel and bloody death on the cross. “He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross,” says the Apostle; “for which cause God also hath exalted Him and hath given Him a name which is above all names” (Phil. II, 8-9). Let us thank our amiable Saviour for having assumed the name, Jesus, for love of us and having willed to shed the first drops of His Precious Blood, even in infancy. In grateful love, we will reverence His holy name during this new year by placing all our trust in Its infinite power. The Incarnate God, in the mystery of the Circumcision, has given to all mankind the sweetest and most joyous salutation in His own sweet name, Jesus—Saviour—and as a further pledge of His love, He has added to it the rarest gifts,—the example of the most perfect obedience, the deepest humility and the most complete sacrifice. Shall we leave such love unheeded by neglecting to imitate these virtues so dear to Him, and so necessary for us? By our special calling to the religious state, the sweet Saviour wishes to impart to us the fulness of His virtues, if we but surrender ourselves wholly to Him, by perfect conformity to His adorable Will. To the practice of which particular virtue does the love of my Divine Saviour incite me?
SECOND POINT
WE SHOULD DO ALL IN THE NAME OF JESUS
The Apostle St. Paul admonishes us in his epistle to the Colossians: “All whatsoever you do in work or in word, do all in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ” (Col. 3, 17). In imitation of Jesus, Who, in the moment of His conception, offered to the Eternal Father solely for His honor and glory, His mortal life with all its privations and sufferings, and Who in His Circumcision gave His own Blood, as a pledge of His incomprehensible love for us, thus becoming in very truth our “Jesus,” we too will give our good God every day, hour and minute of this new year. In the name of Jesus, we will offer Him our thoughts, words, works and sufferings, that they may tend to His greater honor and glory. We will, in future, live and labor but for love of Him.
As the Spouse in the Canticle bore the name of her beloved on her arm, so we should bear the name of Jesus in our hearts, in our thoughts, and on our lips. “All for Jesus,” should be our motto,—naught for the world, and naught for self and selfish interests. All labor and rest, all joy and pain,—all shall be for Jesus. Such sentiments are befitting a soul consecrated to God, a soul espoused by the bonds of religious vows to the dear Saviour. Jesus should live and labor in us, and we, in all our thoughts, words and works, should live in Him. Our Saviour Himself has said: “He that abideth in Me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit” (John 15, 5). Let us permit the dear Saviour to produce in us these fruits of true virtue by our constant and intimate union with Him. Let us begin each day’s work, every occupation, with the invocation of His sweet name, “For there is,” says St. Paul, “no other name under heaven given to men whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4, 12). Do I always pronounce the holy name of Jesus with due reverence and devotion? Do I always strive to perform my actions with the invocation of this sweet name and in union with my dear Saviour?
Affections: O divine, O sweet, O glorious name, which the heavenly Father had known and pronounced from all eternity! Ah, impress Thyself upon our souls, that through Thee they may be made worthy of eternal salvation. Relying upon Thy power, we will begin the new year with the firm resolve to die to self, in order to live for Him, Who died for love of us. May Thy name, O dear Jesus, be incessantly in our hearts and upon our lips, that through It we may conquer our enemies and persevere in good to the end. Grant, O Jesus, that having tenderly loved and honored Thy glorious name on earth, we may be made worthy to unite with Thy angels and saints in singing Its praises throughout eternity.
Resolution: We will frequently pronounce the holy name of Jesus with love and confidence.
Spiritual Bouquet: “O Jesus, be to me Jesus, and save me.”
Prayer: O Jesus, living in Mary . . .
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