The Power of the Holy Name of Jesus
Summary of Headings
Introduction
One more quick announcement in case you don't look at the calendar on your bulletin, do remember that St. Philomena's birthday is this Saturday, so we have one of her masses, and there will also be the veneration of her relic and the blessing with her oil after that mass, as well as next Sunday after each mass. Today is such a beautiful feast, the feast of the Holy Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Please note that if it didn't fall on a Sunday, if the Sunday was after January 5th, it would have to be celebrated on January 2nd. This feast day should be celebrated as soon after the octave of Christmas as possible. Why is that? Well, the important thing is because of what it is that we are celebrating. The name of our Lord Jesus Christ is powerful. It's extraordinarily powerful. It is important. It is crucial. It is most important for us. We don't put nearly enough importance or understand nearly enough what it is that when we say the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, what it is we are invoking. We don't understand the power that we have in our hands and our hearts to be able to say that name. No one can say the name of our Lord but by the Holy Ghost. No one. We don't understand just how grave blasphemy is. What it means for us to take the name of our Lord in vain. We don't understand so many things about it. So let's try to understand a little bit more. It struck me yesterday when I was reciting the divine praises after benediction. Blessed be God, blessed be His holy name, blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true man. Blessed be the name of Jesus and so forth. With God, we immediately bless God and then we bless His name. And then with our Lord, we bless His nature and then we bless His name. But with our Lady, we bless Her and then we bless the Immaculate Conception, the Assumption, and then her name. Why would she be different in that aspect? Why would her name come later, as it were, than our Lord and God the Father? The reason is actually quite simple. Because of, first of all, who the name is attached to. And secondly, because of what the nature of the name is. The name of the Blessed Virgin Mary is of course powerful, but it's powerful because she is so closely affiliated to God. And because of who she is. But as wonderful and as powerful and excellent as she is, she is nothing compared to our Lord Jesus Christ. Because He is God. She is the most perfect creature that could ever be created. And yet, there's an infinite chasm of excellence between her and God. And between her and her Son. Because her Son is God. So therefore, the name that is attached to her Son, to our Lord Jesus Christ, is infinitely more excellent than her own. Then also, her name does not express her very nature. When we, for example, when we talk about the angels. Michael, Michael. His name actually is who He is. Who is like God. That is what His name means, and that is what He is. His name defines Him as what His nature actually is. And so it is with our Lord Jesus Christ on an entirely different level. Because Jesus, the word, the name, means Savior. Christ, the anointed one. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the anointed Savior. The anointed Savior. There is no other. He is it. And therefore, His name represents perfectly, identifies Him as perfectly as human language could possibly do so. The Blessed Virgin Mary, again, her name does not do so. Not in the same way. And so, His name is most excellent. And therefore, it is to be praised first. When we talk about the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we have to understand another thing. It is not something because of its proximity to the nature of God, because of what it represents for our salvation. It is not something to be used lightly. It is to be used with tremendous reverence. And the Church reminds us of this emphatically. All throughout the liturgy. If you observe, and hopefully you have at some point in the Mass, the priest has different degrees of bowing. He bows his head slightly when he mentions the Saint of the Day and the Mass. Then, for the Blessed Virgin Mary, he is supposed to touch his chin to his chest, or those who don't have double chins anyway. And then, for our Lord Jesus Christ, though, it is actually a profound bow. We bow our head, our neck, and our shoulders. We present, as much as possible, a reverence that isn't going to be a problem for celebrating the Mass. You are not going to lose your sight of the Blessed Sacrament. You are not going to be in danger of knocking the chalice over with your head. But as low as we can possibly go while maintaining the Mass. The Church demands this of the priest. So, of course, all of you are more than welcome to do so. When you see the priest bow his head, towards the Tabernacle especially, that is when he is using the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And every head should bow. Every last one. You will be kneeling, hopefully, for the most part, so you should bow simply with your heads. But it should happen. When you see the priest genuflect before the Blessed Sacrament, you also should bow your heads. Why is that? Because he is God! Our Lord Jesus Christ is God. That cannot be emphasized nearly enough. We tend to forget it so often. We use His name. We see Him so often. We don't even think about the excellence of His nature. He is God Himself. He is infinite. He is omnipotent. He is absolute. He is perfect. He is God! Let us never forget it. And the fact that we actually have the grace to utter His name, to actually speak His name, is one of the most profound graces that we could possibly have. The fact that our speech doesn't get caught in our throats when we try to use His name because of its immensity and holiness is truly miraculous. The fact that we, unworthy as we may be, can actually call upon Him, invoke Him, speak through Him, pray through Him. All of these things are beyond miraculous. These are gifts because we are the adopted sons of God. These are gifts because He Himself took upon Himself our nature and gave Himself His name. We have that power. And it is a tremendous power. We forget, again, just how powerful that name is. Devils take flight before it. Souls are strengthened by it. Walls crumble and fall. And grace can flood in and convert people by the mere mention of the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Every prayer in the Mass is per Dominum Nostrum Jesum Christum. Through our Lord Jesus Christ. Every prayer we say is that, has that doxology. Every prayer we say in the liturgy is His voice and His language and His words. And we all have the opportunity to actually be a part of it. To call upon Him and invoke Him. Ronald Knox marvels at the audacity of the church and of the Catholics in general who actually use the imperative mood to call upon God. As if we were commanding Him. As if we could command Him. And yet He obeys and He listens because the prayer is in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. God actually does what we wish. And He gives us the graces we need. And He gives us everything to support us and carry us through. If we call upon Him through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Not in our way but in His way. But He will always answer the prayer. Always. It is crucial that we have true reverence for this name. Because of how glorious it is and powerful it is. We should not use it lightly. And one of the things we need to be most careful of is the sin of blasphemy. It's the second commandment for a reason. The first commandment of course is the most essential. We must recognize that God is God and therefore we must adore Him. We must recognize that. It's the most essential commandment. It's the most essential part of who we are as human beings. But the second thing most connected to Him is the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ His name. God's name. Represents who they are. And so therefore their name is not to be used vainly. It's the second commandment. The second most important and the second most essential. It's also one of the most abused commandments. In the 19th century when Our Lady appeared in La Salette the children found her weeping upon a rock. Melanie asked her, why do you weep? She said, I'm having a hard time holding my son's hand back. He is very angry. And she explained to the children that the sins that particularly angered our Lord were first and foremost the abuse of the Sunday and Holy Days. In France it was the going through a time of impiety where they were abandoning the religious practices in many cases. So the abuse of the Sunday and Holy Days. Not going to Mass. Not sanctifying the day the best way they could. But the second one was the blasphemy. And it's so easy to slip into that. Especially now in this world where it is a constant. An absolute constant. Where you cannot turn on the TV. You cannot listen to the internet. You cannot listen to discourses of any sort without somebody using the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in vain. Through an interesting irony, by doing so they are recognizing that his name is special. They are abusing it but they recognize his name as being apart from all others. So what do we do when we are confronted with a world that is determined to disrespect our Savior at every turn? What do we do? Well first and foremost we must change ourselves. If we have a habit of blasphemy we must cleanse it now. We must stop now. If we have a tendency of just letting it slip in casual conversation or when we get hurt. You know we are trying to knock a nail into a piece of wood. It slips and we hit our hand. That should not be our reaction. We should not use that name in that moment. We need to make sure that we use it for prayer and for reverence. So that is the first thing. Let's clean it up in our own lives. Let's clean it up in our own homes. Blasphemy has no place in a Catholic home. Period. Purge it. Cleanse it out. If a guest cannot respect those rules they have no place in your home. When we confront people who use that kind of language, which is an everyday thing, everywhere, no matter where, how do we react? What do we do? Well we have one of two options. If we believe that this person will listen to us and will actually stop, then we go and confront them. If we have power or authority over them we are obliged to go and confront them. If we are in control of the environment, like I said with your homes, then you are obliged. But if we think that this person will actually listen and respect what you say, then we should go and confront them and tell them please don't do that. And if we can convince them of the sanctity of that name, then maybe, just maybe, that person can start to hear the voice of our Lord Jesus Christ because he's not abusing his name. But at the very least, what we should do each and every time we hear a blasphemy, is we should make an act of reparation. You men of the Holy Name Society, this is one of your major apostolates, but it certainly is not limited to you. It's limited to every Catholic who understands, even a little bit, what the second commandment means and the holiness of the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not something that we should put aside lightly or use lightly. It is something that we should hold and guard with great reverence and sanctity. We must appreciate its power to be able to sanctify it. So therefore, consider this. In the ritual, there is a series of prayers that can be said for a person who is at that moment dying, in their last agonies. The first thing the priest says when he begins those prayers, Yezu, Yezu, Yezu. The very first thing we say for a soul that is in agony and that is getting ready to confront their final judgment is the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because it will always drive the devil away. It will always strengthen the soul that is fighting for their salvation. And it is the most essential moment in our lives for us to call upon our Lord and to ask for His help and to give ourselves entirely to Him. We must have that kind of reverence in our souls no matter what. This name is above all names. As the intro says, every knee shall bend before the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in heaven, upon the earth, and even in hell itself. The prideful souls that have rejected Him and have abused His name will still bend their knees before this name because it belongs to God. Now we must also understand what that means. We must voluntarily bend our knees before that name. And we must sanctify that name in our daily lives no matter what. And we must have a reverence for God's nature to the extent that it goes to His name as well. That we will adore Him, yes, but that we will treat everything that pertains to Him with such extraordinary reverence because it is His, not ours. Just because we have the faculty to speak and God gives us the extraordinary permission to actually call upon Him and use His name does not give us the right to use it however we want. It gives us a tremendous obligation to treat it with the delicacy that it deserves. Let us appreciate the power of the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us turn to Him and ask Him for understanding of just how extraordinary a gift and a power we have in the invocation of His name so that we will be able to use it appropriately and we will be able to call upon Him and we will be able to love Him and make up for the so many souls that are lost in their blasphemies because of their blasphemies so that we may be able to be eternally happy with Him and enjoy the full mystery of His name for all eternity and be happy with Him in heaven. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Summary
The homily begins with an announcement about St. Philomena's birthday and the associated celebrations. It then transitions to the main theme, which is the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. The preacher emphasizes the power and importance of the Holy Name of Jesus, noting that it should be celebrated as soon after the octave of Christmas as possible. The homily explores the reverence due to this name and the power it holds. The homily concludes with a call to action for the faithful to cleanse their language and homes of blasphemy, to appreciate the grace of invoking Jesus' name, and to use it with reverence in prayer and daily life.