Today’s feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus is another way for the Church to call our attention to Jesus’ identity, and to encourage us to call upon him.
When Gabriel visited Mary, the angel told her, “Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.” Similarly, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and explained Mary’s virgin conception. “You are to name him Jesus,” the angel told Joseph, “because he will save his people from their sins.”
Jesus’ name literally means “savior.” St. Paul writes to the Philippians that “God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those 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.”
St. Bernard of Clairvaux was a great promoter of devotion to the holy name of Jesus. “To speak of it brings to the mind all that the name stands for,” he wrote. “To call on it calms and soothes the heart.”
There are many other references to the power of Jesus’ name in Scripture. In the Acts of the Apostles, the name of Jesus healed the lame and brought the dead back to life. The holy name is a protection from the devil, who has been conquered by Jesus on the cross. The devil fears his name. We conclude all of our prayers as a Church by praying in the name of Jesus Christ, for he promised that “whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you”.
The emblem or monogram of the holy name of Jesus—the initials IHS—is seen in many places. In the Middle Ages, Jesus’ name was written as “Ihesus,” so the monogram IHS contains the (combined) first and last letters of this name. The Jesuits have this monogram as the emblem of their order.
On this feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, let every knee bend and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!
May God Bless You and Grant You His Peace!