48. January 3, Holy Name of Jesus

Meditations no. 625 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

The name Jesus, which means “God saves,” has brought salvation to the earth.

THE imposition of the name was very important among the Semitic peoples: it underlined the mission to which a person was called in the midst of his people. In Israel, the name was imposed at the moment of being incorporated into Abraham’s descendants, as St. Luke expressly testifies in the case of Jesus. Therefore, although the whole Christmas season speaks to us of the Lord, it is logical to celebrate his Most Holy Name with a special feast.

Sometimes, God himself changed the name of a person, to signify the task entrusted to him. Sacred Scripture recalls some particularly significant cases: the patriarch Abram will be called Abraham, because he was to be the father of a multitude of peoples; Jacob will be called Israel, because he had fought with God and had won; Simon son of John will be called Cephas, Peter, by Jesus Christ himself, because he will be the rock on which the Church will be built. In the case of Jesus, this name was imposed on him by God himself to signify exactly the mission of the Incarnate Word: Yahweh saves. This is what he expressly communicates to Saint Joseph, through an angel: Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to receive Mary, your spouse, because what is conceived in her is the work of the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a Son and you will call his name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.

The salvation brought about by Jesus was accomplished through the redemptive Incarnation. God became man in order to experience to the full the consequences of sin, including death, and thus to rescue us from our sins. Saint Paul expresses it clearly in the famous hymn of the Epistle to the Philippians: he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. And for this reason God exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name; so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and in the deep, and every tongue should confess, “Jesus Christ is Lord!” to the glory of God the Father.

St. Bernardine of Siena comments that “the great foundation of faith is the name of Jesus, who makes children of God. In fact, the faith of the Catholic religion consists in the knowledge and light of Jesus Christ, who is the light of the soul, the door of life, the foundation of eternal salvation. If someone lacks it or has abandoned it, he walks without light in the darkness of the night, and advances swiftly through dangers with his eyes closed, and, however much the excellence of reason shines, he follows a blind guide as long as he follows his own intellect to understand the heavenly mysteries, or tries to build a house forgetting the foundations, or wants to enter through the roof by leaving the door aside. Jesus is therefore that foundation, light and door, which, having to show the way to those who were lost, manifested himself to all as the light of faith, by which the unknown God can be desired and, begged, can be believed and, believed, can be found.

“This foundation sustains the Church, which is built in the name of Jesus. The name of Jesus is the splendour of preachers, because with a luminous splendour he makes his word proclaimed and heard. How do you think that the light of faith spread so far, so quickly and so fiercely, except that Jesus is preached? Did not God call us to his marvellous light because of the light and flavour of that name? For we have been enlightened and have seen the Light in that light, Paul rightly says:”Once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord: walk as children of light” (Gal 4:8).”

The name of Jesus is like spilled oil.

OLEUM effusum nomen tuum, your name is like spilled oil. This is what the Song of Songs says of the Bridegroom, and tradition rightly applies it to Our Lord. The name of Jesus is in fact like an aroma that spreads its perfume throughout the house. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to pour this holy oil into our hearts, on our lips, in our works.

“I recognize this name,” cries St. Bernard, “because I read it in Isaiah. The Lord,” he says, “will give his servants another name, in which whoever is blessed on earth will be blessed by the true God (Is 65:15-16). Blessed name! Oil poured out everywhere! How far is it poured out? From heaven to Judea, and from Judea it flows throughout the earth; and from all the ends of the earth, the Church cries: your name is poured out. And indeed well poured out, for it travels not only through heaven and earth, but penetrates to hell itself, so that at the name of Jesus every knee bows in heaven, on earth and in hell (Phil 2:10).”

Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed One of God. Of the two names he becomes one: “Jesus Christ”. “What a precious name and how copious at the same time! Copious and salutary. If it were not abundant, it would not be poured out on me; if it were not salutary, it would not give me health. I share in that name and with it in the heavenly inheritance. I am a Christian, a brother of Christ I am. And if I am what I call myself, I am also an heir of God and a joint heir with Christ (cf. Rom 8:17)”.

What does it mean when the name of Jesus is compared to oil? St. Bernard explains that oil possesses three qualities that are well preached of the name of Jesus: “It shines, it feeds and it anoints. It encourages fire, nourishes the flesh, relieves pain. It is light, food and medicine. Let us see how all this is fully suited to the name of the Bridegroom. This most sweet name shines when it is preached, nourishes when it is eaten, anoints and alleviates evils when it is invoked.”

The eternal Word is the Light that shines in the midst of darkness, a Light that God himself commanded St. Paul to bring before all nations and that must shine in our behavior, for we must be like lights lit in the night of this world. To receive the radiance of Christ, we must open the eyes of the soul, cleanse them with the eye salve of the sacraments, especially of penance. With our clean gaze may we cleanse the lives of many others. Ut videam, ut videamus, ut videant!, he invited us to repeat our Father.

Jesus is also food for the soul, not only when we receive him in the Eucharist, but also because by pronouncing his name with devotion our soul is filled with joy. That is why we must treat him in prayer by calling him by name, as our Father advises us on the Way: lose the fear of calling the Lord by his name - Jesus - and of telling him that you love him. When there is trust, people give of the you. And are we not going to have confidence in our Saviour? Let us remember the consolation that our Founder received when he read the letter of a friend of his: “I was amused that you speak of the ‘account’ that Our Lord will ask of you. No, for you he will not be a Judge - in the austere sense of the word - but simply Jesus.” This phrase, written by a holy Bishop, who has consoled more than one troubled heart, may well console yours.

There is nothing that nourishes the spirit so much as that which is meditated on again and again. That must be the name of Jesus for us. “All food of the soul is devoid of substance unless it is seasoned with this oil; it is tasteless if it is not seasoned with this salt,” says St. Bernard. And he continues: “Reading annoys me, if I do not read the name of Jesus. Speaking disgusts me, if it does not speak of Jesus. Jesus is honey in the mouth, melody in the ear, joy in the heart.”

It is also the medicine of our disordered passions, of our inveterate defects, of our spiritual weakness. St. Bernard assures us that “there is nothing more suitable to arrest the impetus of anger, to abate the swelling of pride, to heal the wounds of envy, to restrain the attacks of lust, to quench the fire of concupiscence, to quench the thirst of avarice, and to banish all disordered appetites.”

Frequently invoke the name of Jesus and carry it everywhere.

Trusting in the very word of the Lord, we must often call on his holy name. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have not asked anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.

Our Father taught us a wonderful ejaculation: Iesu, Iesu, esto mihi semper Iesus! Let us repeat it often and we will be amazed at its effects, especially when we are sad, worried, tired. … I call him Jesus, without fear, alone, he told us. Here, at the tabernacle, I am not ashamed to invoke him by name. My son, tell him too that you love him, that you will always love him. More and more! Tell him that you love him, now that you are young, with all the power of your heart, with all your passions, alive, sometimes a little wild! Tell him now in a particular way, and then also, and show him that affection with deeds.

At the same time, we will strive to spread the fragrance of this name around us. This is what the first Christians did, taught by St. Paul, who knew that he was the chosen instrument to bear the name of Jesus before the Gentiles, the kings and the children of Israel. The same deed will also be repeated now, if we commit ourselves to carrying the name of Jesus everywhere, in our words and in our deeds. Ecce ego, ecce ego ad gentem, quae non invocabat nomen meum: here I am, here I am going to the people who do not call on my name (65:1). For each of the children of God in this Work of God wants only to live ut portet nomen tuum coram gentibus, to bring your name to all peoples (cf. Acts 9:15) until he achieves that omnes gentes agnoscant quia tu es Deus, that all nations may know that you are God (Jdt 9:19).

“This name is to be published so that it may shine, it must not be hidden. But it cannot be preached with a stained heart or an impure mouth, but it must be placed and shown in a chosen vessel (…).

“For just as a field, when a fire is kindled in it, is cleansed of all dry and useless brambles and thorns, and just as when the sun rises and the darkness dissipates, assailants, night thieves, and those who break into houses to rob hide, so Paul’s preaching to the people, like the roar of a great thunder or a fire that bursts forth with force or in the light of a sun that rises brightly, destroyed infidelity, annihilated falsehood, made truth shine, as when wax melts in the heat of a burning fire.

“He carried the name of Jesus everywhere, with his words, with his letters, with his miracles and examples. He always praised the name of Jesus, and invoked him in his supplication. … The Apostle bore this name as a light, to the Gentiles, to the kings and to the children of Israel, and with it he enlightened the nations, proclaiming everywhere those words: the night is advanced, the day is near; let us therefore put off the works of darkness and put on the weapons of light (Rom 13:12) (…). Hence the Church, the bride of Christ, always supported by her witness, rejoices, saying with the Psalmist, ‘My God, you have instructed me from my youth, and to this day I relate your wonders’ (Ps 71:17), that is, I always related them.”

In this way we will collaborate with Christ in the application of the Redemption. “The royal priesthood, with which God sealed our souls in Baptism and Confirmation, has been strengthened in us through the divine vocation to Opus Dei, which enables us to bring the name of Christ to all the places where men work and live. But do not forget me,” wrote Don Alvaro, “that the apostolate, in order to be truly effective, must be based on a profound, habitual, daily union with Jesus Christ our Lord: we must all be, as our Father said, no longer alter Christus, but ipse Christus, Christ himself.”

With what accents of tenderness the name of Jesus would resound on the lips of Our Lady and of St. Joseph! We ask you to teach us to call our elder brother that way, and to treat him with complete trust.