There is life with Jesus, and there is life without Jesus. We get to choose which life we want to live. It is basically a binary decision. We are either going one way or the other. In my early years of life growing up and as a young man, I mostly lived a secular life without Jesus, and let me humbly say I have suffered needlessly for it over the years.
I had a loving family. I had many friends. I had girlfriends. I had an outgoing social life. I had the great outdoors, hunting and fishing, adventures, good times and all of that. And through it all, I also had a void of emptiness that eventually overwhelmed me in the reality of my first job away from my family and my hometown.
We share in Christ’s sufferings symbolically and gain salvation in reality. + From the Jerusalem Catecheses
I hope I gain salvation. That is the end goal. I am older and wiser now, in the years of mid-life. Perhaps John the Baptist would give me a pat on the back, because, basically, all those things I had have decreased over the years, and Jesus has increased.
Which way is the better way? Well, I can tell you, detachment from the world, from pride, sin, and all of that has been quite brutal, and it is still an ongoing process of life long formation of discipleship. It’s an uphill climb. But spiritually speaking, things are happening with Jesus. Let Jesus in your life and the light of Christ will follow.
Christ is both the way and the door. + St. Bonaventure
Jesus, I feel, is increasing, and I am decreasing. How am I doing this? I bought a Benedictine crucifix at an Abbey gift shop of a Benedictine monastery. I watched a priest exorcise and bless the crucifix in the presence of others that were there in the gift shop that day. I am gradually making more time before this blessed, holy crucifix, mostly in the evenings. In these tender moments of prayer before Jesus, I feel I am living to fullest of what it means to be a disciple. I am letting go and letting God.
Be still and know that I am God! Psalms 46:10
For the first time in my life, I am engaging in mental and contemplative prayer! I am keeping vigil with Jesus on the cross just as the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. John the Evangelist did on Good Friday. Outside of holy communion, Eucharistic adoration and praying the rosary, this might be the best way to understand and appreciate the Holy Name of Jesus. This time alone with Jesus, I feel, has been spiritual growth in God. The end goal for all Christian disciples is God. God calls us to be holy, like Him (1 Pt 1:16).
Learning the Catholic Faith
What does the Church say about the Holy Name of Jesus? I want to share a few things I learned, mostly from the following three sources rooted in Traditional Catholicism:
- My Catholic Faith a Catechism in Pictures
- The Catechism of the Council of Trent
- The Catholic Bible Dictionary
Jesus is God! He is Divine. That is something to consider when reading about everything Jesus did and said in the Gospels. Jesus is also a man. Jesus is the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. Jesus is equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Think about Jesus at the Wedding Feast at Cana. If we invite Jesus in our lives, He accepts our invitation. If we are obedient to Him and His requests by putting in the work (filling the ablutions with water drawn from the well) Jesus produces the miracles (turning gallons of water into the best wine!). This is the Jesus of love and mercy. If we search for the Holy Name of Jesus in our lives, we will surely find Him planted in our hearts. The Lord dwells in the highest heavens (Isa 57:15).
…Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Matthew 16:24-25
Jesus is true God and true man. He became flesh and dwelt among us while still being fully Divine. Saints become saints because they spend so much time with Jesus (prayer, scripture, and sacraments) the limitless Divinity of love overflows into their hearts, and they partake of the Divine cup – in both suffering and fulfillment in Christ.
He Keeps Sending Me Angels.
I think we would be amazed to know how involved God’s angels are in our lives. It was no different in Biblical times for St. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Each one experienced an encounter with an angel to name the Son of God, “Jesus.”
An angel of God was sent to St. Joseph.
…The angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:20-21
An angel of God was sent to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
…He was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel before He was conceived in the womb. Luke 2:21
Who are We in the Eyes of God?
Do we only identify with Jesus as being LORD, or do we receive Him in our lives? Are we Catholic Chinos (Catholics in Name Only)? I think the typical mindset very often this day and age of modernism, technology, pleasure, comfort, etc. is often this:
‘I am rich and affluent and have no need of anything, Revelation 3:17a
People often get lukewarm in the faith. What does Jesus say in response?
“And yet do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich, and white garments to put on so that your shameful nakedness may not be exposed, and buy ointment to smear on your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and chastise. Be earnest, therefore, and repent.” Revelation 3:17b – 19
The gold refined by fire is God’s saving grace. The white garments are symbolic of an upright life. And the ointment applied to the eyes is to remove spiritual blindness. (Source: USCCB commentary)
St. Paul had his spiritual blindness removed first hand by the blinding light of Jesus:
On his journey, as he was nearing Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” He said, “Who are you, sir?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Acts 9:3-5
The name Jesus means “Yahweh saves.” Think about how Jesus saved St. Peter from perishing in the stormy seas (Mt 14:22-33). Peter began to sink for lack of faith. To his credit, St. Peter cried out for Jesus to save him. Jesus stretched out His hand and saved him. We should do the same should we ever begin to sink.
I shall remember how Saint Peter at a blast of wind began to sink because of his lack of faith, and I shall do as he did: call upon Christ and pray to him for help. And then I trust he shall place his holy hand on me and in the stormy seas hold me up from drowning. + St. Thomas More
Jesus is a Saving God
The name of Jesus also means that He is Savior (Redeemer). The title “Redeemer” means that Jesus rescues us from sin, eternal death and hell. All you have to do is read about the July 13, 1917 appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima before the three visionary children to know that we want Jesus to save us from the fires of hell.
Oh my Jesus…forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, and lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of your mercy. + Fatima Prayer
We are commanded by Jesus as His disciples to love Him and love one another. The more we love God, the more we will love one another with mercy and charity.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’
The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31
Goals of Discipleship
The word “goal” is only mentioned twice in the New Testament in Philippians and 1st Peter. We could say there are only two end goals for the Christian disciple:
Goal #1: To be with Jesus forever in heaven.
I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:14
Goal #2: To be saved by Jesus from the fires of hell.
Although you have not seen him you love him; even though you do not see him now yet believe in him, you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, as you attain the goal of [your] faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:8-9
God’s Plan for Jesus
God the Father commanded that the Christ child be named Jesus. Jesus, the God who saves sinners (Mk 16:15-16), came down from heaven with his Messianic ministry in mind in obedience to the Father in heaven.
Goal #1: Save us from our sins.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. Matthew 1:21
Goal #2: Open the gates of heaven for us.
Open the gates of righteousness; I will enter and thank the LORD. This is the LORD’s own gate, through it the righteous enter. Psalms 118:19-20
This helps explain why the name of Jesus is the Holy Name of Jesus. Jesus is holy and Jesus is God. He is obedient to the Father. Jesus loves us. He calls us to be with Him both in this life and for eternity. It’s up to us to accept Him in the life He has given us.
Holy Name of Jesus Bible Verses
Here is the Litany Prayer of the Holy Name of Jesus: Holy Name of Jesus
We should always use the name of Jesus with reverence, especially in prayer. We should never use the name of Jesus in vain (Exodus 20:7).
We, as Christian disciples, acknowledge that Jesus Christ is LORD. We place all that we are and all that we have been given under His Authority, even our very lives. By uniting ourselves to Him in faith, His Divine presence and power manifests through us:
Peter [said] to them, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the holy Spirit. Acts 2:38
Jesus, although ascended into heaven, continues to speak and take actions through the lives of his disciples, especially the apostles (clergy) He has called to serve Him:
Peter said, “I have neither silver nor gold, but what I do have I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean, [rise and] walk.” Acts 3:6
The Holy Spirit enables disciples to speak fearlessly, invoking the name of Jesus before others, even if they are our enemies – inside or outside the Church:
then all of you and all the people of Israel should know that it was in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead; in his name this man stands before you healed. Acts 4:10
Throughout human history, the enemies of Christianity fail to suppress the LORD of Israel from speaking and taking actions through His chosen disciples:
So they called them back and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. Acts 4:18
Jesus teaches us in the Gospel of Matthew not to be saddened, but to rejoice and be glad (Mt 5:10-12) whenever we are attacked by others for the sake of His Holy Name:
After recalling the apostles, they had them flogged, ordered them to stop speaking in the name of Jesus, and dismissed them. Acts 5:40
The Holy Name of Jesus divinely manifests the reality of the kingdom of God for all believers who accept Jesus, for both Jews and Gentiles alike:
but once they began to believe Philip as he preached the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, men and women alike were baptized. Acts 8:12
Once St. Paul was converted and baptized, his life was changed forever in Christ:
Then Barnabas took charge of him (Paul) and brought him to the apostles, and he reported to them how on the way he had seen the Lord and that he had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus. Acts 9:27
The Spirit of God enables St. Peter to baptize Gentiles in the name of Jesus:
He ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Acts 10:48
The immense power of the Spirit of Jesus working through St. Paul allows him to take decisive action and exorcise an oracular spirit with immediate results:
She did this for many days. Paul became annoyed, turned, and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” Then it came out at that moment. Acts 16:18
St. Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles, initially thought it was God’s will for him to ruthlessly persecute Christians who believed in the name of Jesus and followed Him in discipleship. Fortunately for us, Jesus intervened:
I myself once thought that I had to do many things against the name of Jesus the Nazorean, Acts 26:9
God the Father exalts the Holy Name of Jesus and shares His glory with Him for all of eternity. When the nations are assembled together on the day of final judgment, every angel and fallen angel (demon), every human being, alive and dead, good and bad, will proclaim to the glory of God the Father that Jesus Christ is LORD:
At the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, Philippians 2:10
The preceding verse bridges back to the Prophetic Book of Isaiah in the Old Testament. Let us turn to Jesus in our lives and proclaim the Gospel. Jesus Christ is LORD:
Turn to me and be safe, all you ends of the earth, for I am God; there is no other! By myself I swear, uttering my just decree, a word that will not return: To me every knee shall bend; by me every tongue shall swear, Isaiah 45:22-23
Closing Thoughts
Let us remember, when we pray to God, we should always pray in the Holy Name of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus presents our prayers before the Father in heaven. Jesus gives us the commandments. As servants of God, we do the work and carry out the Lord’s commandments as best as we can while we are here on earth.
His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.” John 2:5
From there, Jesus accepts our work and prayers and uses them (often at the request of His Blessed Mother) to produce miracles. And the end-result of the miracles produced by Jesus is love and mercy. Jesus is a God of love and mercy. May the Holy Name of Jesus planted in our hearts help fortify us to preserve His Holy Church on earth.
My brothers, you must consider and preserve the traditions you are now receiving. Inscribe them across your heart. + St. Cyril of Jerusalem, apostolic bishop 315-387 A.D.
