Feast of the Holy Name 2 January 2022
By this name and no other…
Calling upon God to do something is not a magic formula. We cannot tell God what to do, nor can we make things happen without His consent.
We may start out asking for mainly selfish things, but as we mature in the faith we take a wider and deeper view. To start with we may just want to win the lottery; by the time we finish we are ready to die as martyrs!
We can still pray for material needs, but increasingly these are seen in the light of spiritual values.
It comes to mean that eventually we will ask only for the things God would want us to have. This might seem a let-down because we know He will pick things for us like humility, generosity, courage… and these are not as exciting perhaps as a new car or new house.
But then we realize that God is leading us into a deeper awareness of ourselves, the way we are designed, the way we operate; a deeper awareness of His holy will, the greatness of His plans, the intensity of His power. It is by this stage that we are ready to ask ‘in His Name’, and we shall receive it (Jn 14,13).
When we have finally aligned ourselves to God's will we can then communicate more effectively with Him.
Our prayer emerges from our faith. We are not dealing with a distant deity but with a personal presence closer to us than we usually realize. Faith is identifying with God and expressing our closeness to Him. Prayer should not be shouting across a void but a whisper from the heart.
As Our Lady prayed: Son, they have no wine. She knew that statement would be enough for her Son to act. It can be like that with our prayer.
We seek to be perfectly at one with the will of God, not even considering for a moment that we would disobey Him or overrule Him. This is ‘seeking first’ the Kingdom of God.
When we call on the Holy Name we are drawing power from Our Lord. This power can be harnessed only if we are on right terms with Him.
Calling Him by name will ‘succeed’ only if we are in a position to communicate with Him. It is not an impersonal transaction where I say the word and something happens as a result (as with magic).
Calling on His name itself enables us to draw closer, becoming stronger in faith each time. We come to know Our Lord better, and love Him more, as we surrender more of our own will to His.
So we see that maturing takes place in what we ask for, and in the confidence with which we ask.
God wants us to ask all day long because this is communing with Him on an ongoing basis. He wants us to have this level of trust, and increase it.
Once unity with Him has been established the grace can flow more freely.
Increasingly we come to understand and appreciate the spiritual aspects of every matter, not just seeing God as a supplier of good things (putting material needs first.)
When we can sacrifice lesser desires for greater ones, that is progress. Let us continue that progress far into the future.
Let us call on and reverence the Holy Name, with all the sincerity we can find. Blessed be His Holy Name; blessed the Name of Jesus.
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