Readings
I - 1Jn. 3: 22-4:6
II - Mt. 4: 12-17, 23-25
HOLY NAME OF JESUS
Today the Church celebrates the feast of the holy name of Jesus. Jesus is a most common name in Israel but what is uncommon is that the person to whom this name belong to: the Son of God, the Promised One who came to redeem the world. The holy name of Jesus is healing, consoling, comforting, soothing, liberating, encouraging and uplifting. The utterance of the very name of Jesus is by itself a most powerful prayer. The name of Jesus is our salvation: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts: 11:12). It is a promise: “Promise and whatever any of you ask in my name, I will do” (Jn. 14:13). It is an assurance to be with his people: “where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mt. 18: 20). The name of Jesus is our justification: “You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6: 11). The name of Jesus saves: “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom. 10:13).
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “to pray "Jesus" is to invoke him and to call him within us” (C.C.C. 2666). Many of the saints including Don Bosco has prayed, “In the name of Jesus”. This is of course a short and simple prayer but most effective, miraculous and powerful prayer. Today in particular let us pray more frequently, “In the name of Jesus” and into his holy name entrust all our fears, anxieties, helplessness, worries, ailments, inabilities, failures, burdens and problems with the faith and hope in the one who had redeemed us at the cost of his most cruel death on the cross out of His all love for us. May the name of Jesus be glorified and revered.
