The Holy Name of Jesus
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Today, I’d like to share with you a good article on the Holy Name of Jesus, which on the old Calendar, was celebrated this past Sunday. In our secular culture, we often lose site of the fact that some words are sacred and should never be used in vain. On the top of this list is the name of Jesus. How many movies have we seen or people have we heard who use this holy name as an expletive when angry? What a grave insult that is to God. The name “Jesus” was chosen by God and given to the Archangel Gabriel who announced it to Mary. This underscores the extreme sacredness of this name. Let’s take a look at the excerpt below to learn more about this.
“The Holy Name is explicitly exalted by Saint Paul: “at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth, and under the earth…” (Philippians 2:10). Jesus reinforces the power of His own name in St. John’s Gospel: “If you ask the Father anything in my name he will give it you” (Jn 16:23). “Jesus” was the given name of the Son of Mary, while “Christ” was a title. “Christ” is the Greek form of the Hebrew “Messiah,” meaning the “Anointed One.” “Jesus the Christ” was the original formula for describing the Son of Mary. But over time, “The Christ” became simply “Christ,” as if it were His last name. The name of the God of the Old Testament was holy, not to be written out, nor to be casually spoken. Invoking “Yahweh” could be so egregious a sin as to provoke the tearing of the hearer’s shirt in protest and repentance. The Second Commandment enshrined this Jewish law: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord Thy God in vain.” This commandment prohibited the swearing of false oaths, that is, calling upon God as your witness and then making false statements. The opposite of a solemn oath is to invoke the name of God to damn someone or something: a curse, the inversion of a blessing.
Saint Bernardine of Siena, an electrifying Franciscan preacher of the early fifteenth century, was the saint who most spread devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus. He ingeniously depicted the Holy Name with the well-known monogram “IHS,” derived from the Greek letters forming the word “Jesus.” In the sixteenth century, the Jesuits built on this tradition and utilized the “IHS” to embellish their churches, even making it the emblem of their Society. The mother church of all Jesuit churches, in Rome, is officially named in honor of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, although its name is commonly shortened to simply “The Jesus.” There is raw power in the name Jesus. It makes polite company cringe. It divides families. It floats across the dinner table, letting everyone know exactly where you stand. A comfortable, vague euphemism like “the man upstairs” or “the big guy” just won’t do. “Jesus” does not convey an idea that everyone can interpret as they wish. It’s someone’s name. And that someone taught, suffered, died, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven.”
NO PASTOR’S NOTES NEXT WEEK: Traditionally, after the busy seasons of Christmas and Easter, priests take a week off for rest. I will therefore be taking next week off, so we will not have a Pastor’s Notes on 1/12/21.
EPIPHANY BLESSING: There is a long-standing tradition of marking churches, homes, schools and other buildings by using blessed chalk to inscribe a sacred formula over the doorways including the numerals of the current year plus the initials C, M and B. These initials represent the names of the three magi, Casper, Melchior and Balthazar, and also the Latin phrase Christus Mansionem Benedicat which means, “Christ bless this house.” Because of the connection with Christ’s baptism and his miraculous transformation of water into wine, there is also a very special blessing of Holy Water associated with Epiphany. This ancient rite of blessing may only be performed by a priest on Epiphany, and includes powerful prayers of exorcism, including the addition of exorcised salt to the water. If you would like to have water and chalk blessed, please bring these items to the 5:30 pm EF Mass on The Feast of the Epiphany, Wednesday, January 6th.
PARKING LOT SAFETY: In-person classes will be starting in a couple of weeks at our elementary school. Because of our outdoor Eucharistic Adoration, there are often people praying in the parking lot. We ask all who will be dropping off and picking up their kids to please be mindful of those who may be kneeling or standing in front of the PLC. Also, I ask all who spend time in adoration to please not occupy parking spaces, as parents will need places to park and wait for their children. With cooperation on all sides, we will keep our parking lot safe for everybody.
ST. EUGENE’S GIFT SHOP/BOOKSTORE:Our special for January will be 25% off of all in-stock calendars and remaining in-stock Christmas and Advent Items. Begin the New Year with the beautiful inspirational art in each of our calendars. Also, most of the calendars have both the old liturgical calendar (pre-Vatican II) and the new (post-Vatican II). We have Spanish language calendars too!
Announcements
2021 CHURCH CALENDARS: Due to a glitch with the publisher, our Calendars will not arrive until the last week of January. We are sorry for this inconvenience and will make them available after all Masses when they finally arrive!
Parish Finances in the Age of Covid
As you all know, these are hard times for all parishes in terms of finances. Even though we are “shut down,” the bills keep coming in and salaries have to be paid. For those of you who have been giving a little extra each week/month, I really appreciate your generosity. For those of you who are unable to come to Mass, please consider giving on-line or the good old-fashioned way, by mail. Thank you and God bless you. Learn more »
Year to Date:
Income $671,104
Short fall $-9,783
THANK YOU to all of those parishioners who gave a bit extra to help us decrease our shortfall.
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