Holy Name of In the name of the Father… Salvation history - human history - divides into two parts. The first part begins with man's fall and the need for a savior and flows toward the defining events of human history. The second part describes the impact of those defining events on subsequent human history. All human history therefore, hinges on, in the words of St Paul, the fullness of time, when God sent His Son into the world, born of a woman,1 i.e., when the Son of God, without ceasing to be God, taking to Himself our mortal nature entered His own creation. The first part of human history, known to us as the , can be summarized in one word, in a name - Yahweh, I am who am - the divine name revealed to Moses from the burning bush when God promised to free Israel from captivity in Egypt.2 The principal focus of the Jewish dispensation was veneration for the divine name which was to be an object of reverence. God commanded through Moses: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me… you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: you shall fear the Lord your God, and serve him, and shall swear by his name. [You shall] fear his glorious and terrible name.3 But even as God was revealing his fearful name to Israel and forming her to reverence it, there was also a hint of the future Incarnation, God commanding Israel: you shall come to the place, which the Lord your God shall choose… to put his name there and to dwell in it.4 The first part of human history - the Old Testament - was summarized in a name, an object of reverence. In the second part of human history - the New Testament - this name remains an object of reverence according to the command: hallowed be thy name,5 God speaking these words no longer through the human voice of a prophet as through an instrument, but now with his very own human voice. In fulfilment of Isaiah's prophecy that a child would be born whose name shall be called Emmanuel, a name which means God with us,6 this God had entered his own creation to destroy the

1 Gal 4:4 2 Ex 3:14 3 Deut 5:6, 7, 11; Deut 28:58 4 Deut 12:5, 6 c.f., 12:11, 16:11, 26:2 5 Mt 6:9 6 Isa 7:14; Mt 1:23 works of the devil7 - who had prompted man's initial calamitous fall - and to give life.8 Indeed, the name of this child was Yahweh saves, Yeshua, Jesus - for he shall save his people from their sins.9 The Old Testament name of Yahweh tells us who God is: the New Testament name of Yeshua - Jesus - tells us what he does. And as a summary of those tremendous events of the Incarnation to destroy the works of the devil, events which continue in the work of the Church, this name exerts a power all its own. Thus St Peter cured sickness through the divine name: In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, arise and walk,10 prompting the Sadducees to ask: By what power or by what name, have you done this?11 This name is powerful in casting out demons. The disciples rejoiced: Lord, the devils also are subject to us in your name.12 St Paul cast out a python spirit: I command you, in the name of Jesus Christ, to go from her. And he went out the same hour.13 Our Lord had promised: these signs shall follow them who believe: In my name they shall cast out devils.14 Even those not of the fold recognized the power of this name: Now some of the Jewish exorcists, who went about, attempted to invoke over them that had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying: I adjure you by Jesus, whom Paul preaches.15 The ultimate victory over Satan however is in the remission of sins. Our Lord explained to his disciples: thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise again from the dead… and that penance and remission of sins should be preached in his name unto all nations,16 ushering in the longed-for salvation, as St Peter preached: Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved.17 This name, however, would also bring trials and persecution. Our Lord warned: If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you… all these things they will do to you for my name's sake.18 Indeed the apostles, having been scourged by the Sadducees… went from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus.19 And Paul, who

7 1 Jn 3:8 8 Jn 10:10 9 Mt 1:21 10 Acts 3:6 11 Acts 4:7 12 Lk 10:17 13 Acts 16:18 14 Mk 16:17 15 Acts 19:13 16 Lk 24:46-47 17 Acts 4:12 18 Jn 15:20-21 19 Acts 5:41 himself had persecuted the Church, bearing authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name,20 having himself been converted was to be… a vessel of election, to carry my name before the Gentiles… For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.21 Indeed, Paul would show himself ready not only to be bound, but to die also in Jerusalem, for the name of the Lord Jesus.22 During this Christmas season we contemplate the mystery of the Incarnation which is the focal point of human history. Just as prior to those tremendous events, so even now the divine name is an object of reverence, as befits creatures in the presence of the transcendent God. The commandment remains: you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. Moreover, now the divine name - Yeshua, Jesus - is a source of hope, a name which is powerful against our enemies, a name for which we should be willing to bear reproach, a name which calls us beyond our creatureliness, beyond our sinfulness, to a share in the very life of God. Let it never be found on our lips idly, but always with gratitude and veneration: For God has exalted him and has given him a name which is above all names: That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father.23

20 Acts 9:14 21 Acts 9:15-16 22 Acts 21:13 23 Phil 2:9-11