Salve, Regina, Mater Misericordiae.
Praised be Jesus Christ.
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus.
And we can see how this feast, in a certain sense, has its origins back in the Old Testament.
We think about the great veneration given to God's name.
How God revealed his name to Moses and said,
If they ask who sent you, say, I am sent you, Yahweh.
And in fact, the name of God was so revered
that the Israelites didn't even dare to pronounce it.
So, actually, over the years, they had forgotten the correct pronunciation of the name,
just writing the letters like we commonly see, Y-H-W-H,
which most of us presume is pronounced Yahweh,
but we're not really sure, because the precise pronunciation, like I said, has been forgotten.
There's also the Second Commandment,
which was enforced.
It is, you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
And actually, the veneration of God's name, Yahweh,
is still in effect today.
Recently, the proceedings in Rome, the Synod of Bishops on the Word of God,
had decided to ban the use of the name Yahweh
in liturgical services.
In liturgical use, of course, we can use it when speaking and preaching,
discussing and teaching, etc.
But in liturgical use, you can no longer use the word Yahweh, the name of God.
So, we still offer that reverence for the holy name of God.
Now, throughout the Old Testament, we read in the Psalms and in the Prophets,
a lot of mention about God's name.
In Psalm 8, it says,
How great is your name, O Lord our God, through all the earth.
And then, when God was going to punish the Israelites and destroy them entirely,
he decided not to.
And as he says through the prophet Ezekiel,
But I spared them for the sake of my name, lest it should be profaned before the nations.
So, we see how important the name of God is.
And the reason being is because the name of God, Yahweh, is identified with the person.
Again, what does Yahweh mean?
I am, or I am who am.
He who is.
And God is infinite and perfect being.
And so, his name is reverenced because it is identified with his person.
So, now we go to the New Testament.
New Testament, where we have God incarnate, who takes a name to himself.
As the angel announced to our lady,
Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus.
Jesus, again, just like Yahweh means I am, is identified with the person.
So, Jesus, again, who is he?
He is the Savior.
And that's what the name Jesus means.
It means Savior.
This is what we heard in the Gospel we just read.
Again, when the angel tells Joseph that he will give this child the name of Jesus.
And why?
Because he will save his people from their sins.
He's the Savior.
And that's why he will be named Jesus.
And this is why his name is to be reverenced as well.
Because he, too, is God.
The second person.
Of the Blessed Trinity.
Now, after our Lord completed the work of salvation and ascended into heaven,
then we have the beginnings of the reverence.
Not only do we have reverence for the name of Yahweh,
but then also for the name, the holy name of Jesus.
As St. Paul writes to the Philippians,
God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every other name.
That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bend of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth.
And so at the name of Jesus, every knee must bend.
Of those who love our Lord and have faith in him, we bend our knee willingly and with love.
And those who do not love our Lord and are against him will, at the end of time, bend their knee by imposition.
They will be forced.
They will be forced, constrained, to bend their knee.
Now, liturgically speaking, the bending of the knee has been replaced with the bowing of the head.
So now the priest, when he celebrates Mass and mentions the name of Jesus, he bows the head.
Probably more for practical purposes than anything else.
But it's still the reverence, the outward sign of reverence to the name of Jesus is always necessary.
Now, the devotion to the holy name really took off in the 15th century
with the great Franciscan saint and great preacher, St. Bernardine of Siena.
He was battling against various pagan symbols that were popular.
So what he did was take the first three letters, Greek letters, of the name of Jesus,
which we're all probably familiar with, IHS.
If I'm not mistaken, it's on the front of this pulpit with the sun around it.
That's the symbol that St. Bernardine of Siena popularized and promoted devotion to the holy name.
And, of course, worked many miracles giving testimony to the power of the name of Jesus.
Now, what about today?
Well, today, I think we need to all remind ourselves that the second commandment
is still in force.
The holy name of Jesus should not be taken in vain.
And how often, by the inspiration of the devil, really, if we get right down to it,
has the name of Jesus just become commonplace?
And this among people who consider themselves non-believers as well.
Again, that's another sign that this indifference towards the name of Jesus
is inspired by the devils.
To say our Lord's name with indifference,
or as just a common expression, like some other way to express ourselves.
Again, that is not how we should be saying our Lord's name.
Or worse, how often is our Lord's name expressed in times of frustration and anger?
People venting their anger by yelling the name of our Lord.
Again, that is a sin.
Again, that is a sin against the second commandment.
But instead, the holy name of Jesus should always be pronounced
with reverence and with love.
Not in frustration and anger, but with reverence and with love.
And we see this in the lives of the saints,
especially when they come to their last moments here on earth.
They receive this special grace to pronounce our Lord's name at the moment of death.
And St. Alphonse,
St. Alphonse says that to pronounce our Lord's name or our lady's name
at the moment of death is a special grace that God gives
only to those who he intends to save.
Again, what a great sign of predestination.
A great sign of salvation.
To die pronouncing the name of Jesus.
As the name means, Savior.
So it's a sign that that person is going to be saved.
So this should be all our intention throughout our lives
to always pronounce the name of our Lord
with reverence and with love and with due devotion.
And to encourage others to do so as well.
And maybe, when prudence calls for it,
to correct those who do not.
As the scripture says,
there is no other name under heaven given to men,
by which we are to be saved than the holy name of Jesus.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.