Hallowed Be Thy Name

We have been meditating recently on the life of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus teaches us to pray the Our Father. Did you realize that the Our Father is comprised of seven petitions in which we ask God for seven things?

Hallowed be Thy Name

Thy Kingdom Come

Thy Will be Done on earth as it is in heaven

Give us this day our daily bread

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us

Lead us not into temptation

Deliver us from evil

One

The first thing we ask is hallowed be thy Name.

What are we asking for here? That God be more holy? “Oh God, I pray that you become more holy, that you become better.” That doesn’t sound right. But it certainly takes the attention off me so I don’t have to change and become more holy. 

God cannot become more Holy. His name cannot become more Holy. But those of us who bear His Name, “Christian,” can certainly become more holy.

With this prayer, we are asking God to make us Holy.

St. Peter Chrysologus writes, “But we ask that this name of God should be hallowed in us through our actions. For God’s name is blessed when we live well, but it is blasphemed when we live wickedly…We ask then that just as the name of God is holy, so we may obtain his holiness in our souls.”

Two

What we pray for in the first petition of the Our Father is that we grow in holiness and, remember from yesterday, growth in holiness means growth in intimacy with Jesus.

Put all your effort into being aware of the presence of Jesus and your reliance upon Him. That is where the effort is, not in white-knuckling your way out of sin and into virtue. That will only end in pride or despair. Instead, practice becoming aware of the presence of Jesus and Jesus will give you the strength to overcome temptations and overcome even the temptation to put yourself into temptations. 

Our effort is to constantly invoke Jesus to help us do better. 

The Jesus prayer is a great way to do this. The Jesus prayer goes like this, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.”

A powerful help to grow in intimacy with Jesus is just to pronounce the Holy Name of Jesus throughout the day. 

Three

There is power in the Holy Name of Jesus.

A devastating plague broke out in Lisbon in 1432. All who could fled from the city and carried the plague to every corner of Portugal. Thousands were swept away by the cruel sickness. To use the words of historians, it flashed like lightning from man to man, or from a coat, a hat or any garment that had been used by the plague-stricken.

Among those who assisted the dying with unflagging zeal was a venerable bishop, André Dias, who urged the people to call on the Holy Name of Jesus. He was seen wherever the disease was fiercest, urging, imploring the sick and the dying as well as those who had not as yet been stricken down, to repeat, “Jesus, Jesus.”

“Write it on cards,” he said, “and keep those cards on your persons; place them at night under your pillows; place them on your doors; but above all, constantly invoke with your lips and in your hearts this most powerful Name.”

Wonder of wonders! The sick got well, the dying arose from their agonies, the plague ceased, and the city was delivered in a few days from the most awful scourge that had ever visited it. The news spread to the whole country and all began, with one accord, to call on the Name of Jesus. In an incredibly short time all Portugal was freed from the dread sickness. 

Four

In the year 1274, great evils threatened the world. The Church was assailed by fierce enemies from within and without. So great was the danger that Pope Gregory X called a council of Bishops in Lyons to determine the best means of saving society from the ruin that menaced it. Many solutions were proposed, but the Pope foresaw that the most powerful means was something everyone overlooked - the frequent repetition of the Holy Name of Jesus. The Holy Father then begged the Bishops of the world and their priests to call on the Name of Jesus and to urge their peoples to place all their confidence in this all-powerful Name, repeating it constantly with boundless trust. 

Great Saints like St. Bernardine of Siena and St. Leonard of Port-Maurice were ardent apostles of the Name of Jesus. Their efforts were crowned with success so that the enemies of the Church were overthrown, the dangers that threatened society disappeared and peace once more reigned supreme. This is an important lesson for us because of the great evils that threaten the family, the Church, and the world today. 

The most powerful remedy is prayer. The easiest of all prayers is the Name of Jesus. Everyone without exception can invoke this holy name hundreds of times a day, not only for his own intentions, but also for the needs of all those on our prayer list, the Church, the Country, and the World.

It is amazing what one person who prays can do to save his country and save society. We read in Holy Scripture how Moses saved by his prayer the people of Israel from destruction, and how one pious woman, Judith, saved her city and her people when the rulers were in despair and about to surrender themselves to their enemies. Again, we know that the two cities of Sodom and Gomorrha, which God destroyed by fire for their sins and crimes, would have been pardoned had there been only ten good men to pray for them!

Over and over again, we read of kings, emperors, statesmen, and famous military commanders who placed all their trust in prayer, thus working wonders. If the prayers of one man can do much, what will not the prayers of many do?

The Name of Jesus is the shortest, the easiest and the most powerful of prayers. Everyone can say it, even in the midst of his daily work. God cannot refuse to hear it. Let us then invoke the Name of Jesus, asking Him to save us from the calamities that threaten us.

Five

We finish with the second petition of the Our Father, Thy Kingdom Come.

Pope Benedict teaches that Jesus is the Kingdom. The CCC 2666 says to invoke His name to welcome the Kingdom. So if we want the Kingdom to come, then simply say the Holy Name of Jesus from the heart with faith and a confident expectation and Jesus comes into our presence with His power.