On January 1st, the Gospel spoke of Jesus' circumcision.
Today we turn our attention to one aspect of the mystery of that day.
At the end of eight days when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus.
In this way, Mary and Joseph fulfilled what the angel had said, for to Mary he said, You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call him Jesus.
And so she did.
And to Joseph he had said, She is to have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.
And so he imposed this name.
So it was God himself who chose this name and ordered Jesus' virginal parents to give it to him.
The reason for the name lies in its meaning, to which the angel alluded when he said to Joseph, You shall call him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.
Originally this name meant the Lord is salvation, in its longer form.
And in Jesus' day it sounded almost identical to the Hebrew word for salvation.
Others had borne this name before him, and in their case we render the name Joshua rather than Jesus, but it is the same name in either case.
In their case, the significance of the name is somewhat different.
The most famous Joshua was the ancestor of Moses.
He had a name that meant the Lord is salvation, to remind the Hebrews that they should hope for salvation from God and only from God.
Having the Lord for their salvation, on the one hand, they need not fear any danger, and could without fear conquer the Holy Land.
On the other hand, since the Lord is their salvation, they have no need to trust in the so-called gods of other nations, and to turn aside and follow these gods instead of the Lord who is their salvation.
Another Joshua was high priest after the Babylonian exile, when it was again important to remember that the Lord was the salvation of the Jewish people, now weakened and almost strangers in their own land.
These various Joshua's, these and others, still prefigured our Jesus.
He is our great high priest.
As the first Joshua, and now again, as the first Joshua lead the people in the conquest of the promised land, where Moses was unable to bring them, so now Jesus leads us in conquering heaven, where the law of Moses could not bring us.
While the name of the various Joshua's of the Old Testament was a reminder that the Lord is our salvation, our Jesus is the Lord our salvation.
So Simeon could say, my eyes have seen your salvation.
By Jesus's time, the word for salvation and the name Jesus sounded either very the same or very similar.
Some pronunciation traditions, there's a longer vowel at the end of one of these words, and in others, they sound exactly the same.
St. Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, declared to the Sanhedrin, there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given, given among men, by which we must be saved.
There is salvation in no one besides the one whose name is salvation, or sounds like it.
The name of Jesus is salvation in more than one sense.
As Joel prophesied, it will come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
By this name, temptations are repelled, demons are cast out, the lame walk, the blind see, and the dead are raised.
The Acts of the Apostles recount how St. Peter saw a man lame from birth lying at the gate of the Temple of Jerusalem, the beautiful gate, and said to him, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.
And he not only walked, he jumped for joy.
Even before Christ's saving passion, the Apostles ran into someone who was casting out demons in Jesus's name, even though he was not of their company.
But the Acts of the Apostles also recount that on another occasion he went badly with some Jewish exorcists who tried to use Jesus's name without real faith in him.
It is often the case that temptations are defeated just by calling on the name of Jesus.
At Jesus's name, every knee must bend in the heavens, on the earth, and under the earth, willing or not.
The demons are not willing, but we should be because this name is our salvation.
The Song of Songs says, your name is poured out like oil, or your name is like oil poured out.
And St. Bernard holds that the likeness is to be found in the threefold property of oil.
It gives light, it nourishes, it anoints.
It gives light when it was put into lamps, it nourishes when it's used on food, and it was also used to anoint wounds.
So he says, it feeds the flame, it nourishes the body, it relieves pain.
It is light, food, medicine.
When preached, it gives light.
When meditated, it nourishes.
When invoked, it relieves and soothes.
St. Bernard could find no delight in reading or hearing words in which Jesus was not named.
Like eating salad with no oil on it, or bread with no oil on it.
He said, Jesus is to me honey in the mouth, music in the ear, a song in the heart.
If he had heard St. Francis, he would have had all the honey, music, and song he could wish.
Blessed Thomas of Celano wrote of St. Francis, the brothers who lived with him knew that daily, constantly, talk of Jesus was always on his lips.
He was always with Jesus, Jesus in his heart, Jesus in his mouth, Jesus in his ears, Jesus in his eyes, Jesus in his hands.
He bore Jesus always in his whole body.
Often he sat down to dinner, but on hearing or saying, or even thinking Jesus, he forgot bodily food.
St. Bernardine of Siena was the great apostle of the name of Jesus.
O name of Jesus, he exclaimed, name that is above every name, triumphant name, joy of angels, happiness of the righteous, terror of hell.
In you rests all hope of forgiveness, all hope of grace, all hope of glory.
O most sweet name, from you proceeds the remission of sins, the renewal of life.
You fill souls with heavenly delights, you banish vain imaginations.
O gracious name, by you the depths of miracles are revealed to our eyes.
Our hearts are set aflame with holy love.
They become strong in battle, they escape from all dangers.
O glorious name, beloved name, admirable name, name worthy of our veneration, sweetest name of Jesus our King, you with the abundance of graces, you with the abundance of graces raise us above this miserable earth.
You raise by such a way up to the divine heights the souls of the faithful, that all who are devoted to you find in virtue of you salvation and glory.
People jealous of Saint Bernardine tried to find something wrong with his promotion of devotion to the Holy Name, and they accused him to the Pope, so the Saint appeared before the Pope and defended the devotion in a disputation with great success.
That day, January 14th, was thereafter celebrated by the Franciscans as the triumph of the name of Jesus.
From this developed the liturgical feast of the name of Jesus.
In 1530, the Franciscans received permission to celebrate the feast annually on January 14th.
Since then, it has moved around a little, and now is celebrated on this day.
Let us honor the name that is our salvation.
Let us bow our heads at the name of Jesus.
Let us make reparation for the irreverent use of his name.
The name of Jesus is a prayer so swift we can never lack the time to say it.
It can mean anything according to the movements of our heart.
Jesus, deliver me.
Jesus, strengthen me.
Jesus, I love you.
Jesus, come into my heart.
May it be often on our lips until we expire saying it, as so many saints have done.
Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.