A REFLECTION FOR THE FEAST OF THE HOLY NAME
Did you ever wonder why God
so emphasized the keeping holy of his Name that he made it the second of the
Ten Commandments? One might be forgiven
for thinking that stealing, adultery, and surely murder should be given
priority over the idle mouthing of the Holy Name of God… And yet, there it is, right next to the top
of the first tablet of stone that Moses brought back with him from the heights
of Mount Sinai: “Thou shalt not take the
Name of the Lord thy God in vain.”
The reason this Second
Commandment rates so highly is, of course, because it is a sin against God
himself. Not against our neighbor, who
is a mere creature, but against our Creator, our Redeemer, our most blessed Lord,
whose Name is holy.
The orthodox Jews take this
commandment very seriously. They will
not write the word God, replacing it with G-d instead. They will not even say the Name of God, which
has led to our modern-day ignorance of how the word actually should be
pronounced in Hebrew, with variations from Yahweh to Jehovah vying
for accuracy.
We Catholics make it a practice
of bowing our head at the Name of Jesus.
It is one of the rubrics at Mass and the Divine Office that the priest
and ministers must make a reverence towards the altar whenever the Holy Name
occurs in the liturgy. If the priest is
wearing his biretta, he must remove it for the Name of Jesus as well as bowing.
For us to utter our Lord’s Name
simply in passing, or as part of a joke, an exclamation, or worst of all, as a
curse, can be a very serious sin. We
should all instinctively cringe when we hear such language, knowing as we do how
offensive it is to God. We are taught
that whenever we hear the Name of Jesus taken in vain, we should immediately
make some act of reparation, usually by saying “Blessed be thy Holy Name” or “Blessed
be the Name of Jesus”, under our breath or even out loud. This is a good practice, and should be
encouraged in our children, as it teaches them not only reverence for the Holy
Name but is also an act of charity towards those who would blaspheme it.
Finally, we should give a
brief thought to those who take the Name of God in vain deliberately, and in
order to offend him. For them, it is a
pure act of hatred, and believe me, there are those who harbor such feelings
towards our dear Saviour. They are often
powerful men who seek to influence our culture so that the most sacred of
sacred names might become nothing more than a curse word in our society. God is not mocked, and those who do not bow before
the Name of Jesus will undoubtedly one day tremble at his feet as they are judged.
Glory be to Jesus! Glory be to God in the highest! Our help is in the Name of the Lord, who hath
made heaven and earth!
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