The fire of His Name...

  Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus

January 3

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At every Mass, before the priest begins the Eucharistic prayer,

we pray: “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”

St Paul proclaims: "God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him 
the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus 
every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, 
to the glory of God the Father.  - Phil 2:9-11

"There are two things that make it easy for souls to adore Our Lord in the Sacrament of His Love: they can seek His Human Face, though it be veiled by the appearance of the Sacred Host; and they can call upon Him by His Human Name.

These are the two things that people crave in a relationship: knowledge of a face and of a name. From these, one experiences the heart of the other, and so a relationship becomes a communion, an exchange in which one finds fulfillment, that is, joy and a response to one's love in the other. ... 

Come close to Him, then, who has made Himself so close to us. ...

This knowledge of Him -- of His Name and of His Face -- comes through Word and Sacrament in His Holy Catholic Church. Only there can souls come to experience Him as the Risen One with whom they can enter into a relationship so real that it is consummated in a Holy Communion, in partaking of His Body and Blood, and in becoming one with Him, even as He is one with His Father. ...

The Sacred Name and Sacred Face of Jesus are fire and light in this world that is becoming colder and darker by the day. In the end, the darkness will be forever vanquished by the fire of His Name and by the light of His Face, and then there shall be peace in His Kingdom fully revealed, and in the company of His saints who will sing praise to His Name and adore His Face, shining more brightly than a thousand suns, and this unto the ages of ages."

Dom Mark Daniel Kirby is Conventual Prior of Silverstream Priory in Stamullen, County Meath, Ireland. 

Thoughts of St. Bernard of Clairvaux who wrote hymn "Iesu Dulcis Memoria"- sung today on the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus:

"The sweet Name of Jesus produces in us holy thoughts, fills the soul with noble sentiments, strengthens virtue, begets good works, and nourishes pure affections. All spiritual food leaves the soul dry, if it contain not that penetrating oil, the Name Jesus. When you take your pen, write the Name Jesus: if you write books, let the Name of Jesus be contained in them, else they will possess no charm or attraction for me; you may speak, or you may reply, but if the Name of Jesus sounds not from your lips, you are without unction and without charm. Jesus is honey in our mouth, light in our eyes, a flame in our heart. This name is the cure for all diseases of the soul. Are you troubled? think but of Jesus, speak but the Name of Jesus, the clouds disperse, and peace descends anew from heaven. Have you fallen into sin? so that you fear death? invoke the Name of Jesus, and you will soon feel life returning. No obduracy of the soul, no weakness, no coldness of heart can resist this holy Name; there is no heart which will not soften and open in tears at this holy name. Are you surrounded by sorrow and danger? invoke the Name of Jesus, and your fears will vanish."

MORE on Devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus:  http://www.fisheaters.com/holyname.html 

MORE on the Wonders of the Holy Name of Jesus: http://www.olrl.org/pray/wonders.shtml

MORE on spreading devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus:

http://www.nahns.com/

  

  Click here: Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus - YouTube (9:30 mins) 

 

St. Paul was in a very special way the preacher and doctor of the Holy Name. St. Thomas Aquinas says of him: 

"St. Paul bore the Name of Jesus on his forehead because he gloried in proclaiming it to all men; he bore it on his lips because he loved to invoke it;on his hands, for he loved to write it in his epistles; in his heart, for his heart burned with love of it.  He tells us himself:   

'I live, yet not I, but Christ, liveth in me.' 

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St Paul, pray that we may always honor and love the Name of Jesus!

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Tenth day of Christmas