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| Baby Jesus - Sts. Peter and Paul, Honolulu |
"...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. Paul's Letter to the Philippians 2:10-12
From the Holy Bible: "A man that sweareth much shall be filled with iniquity (sin) and a scourge shall not depart from his house." (Eccl. 23:12)
St. John Vianney, the holy priest of Ars: "God gave men only ten commandments and one of the ten has for its sole object the reverence due to His Name." He used to say that it was an astounding miracle that people who used His Name in vain were not struck dead on the spot. But he warned them, "If the sin of blasphemy is rampant in your home, it will surely perish."
Often His Holy Name is used as an expression of speech, for instance: "My God!" with no real thought of God or calling upon Him. Let us always strive to love and honor the Holy Name of God, using His Name only in prayer and adoration and thanksgiving.
Our Lord revealed to Sr. Marie de Saint-Pierre, a French Carmelite Nun, the need for mankind to make reparation for the terrible sin of blasphemy. He told her: "Oh if you only knew what great merit you acquire by saying even once, " Admirable is the name of God" in the spirit of reparation of blasphemy!"
Please repeat this holy phrase often...
To continue our discussion regarding the Name of Jesus, know that it is the help of the infirm, whence Saint Bernard says:
"Are not all consoled as often as they recollect the Name of Jesus, which Name impinges upon the mind, and when repeatedly invoked, heals the wounded senses, strengthens the virtues, stirs up good and honest manners, and keeps the affections pure. If you are afflicted with a sluggish mind or an indolent faith, Jesus heals you by exciting fervor, and the Name of Jesus will be always in our heart, and always on your fingertips, because all your emotions and all your actions will be directed towards Jesus"
...Through this Name your tepid heart will be mended and you will have an arm that is, both strong and dexterous. I assure you that through the invocation of the Name of Jesus, your actions, should they be depraved, will be corrected,
and if they are less than perfect, they will be improved;
also your senses, which should be your servants, are not only protected from damage and destruction, but should they be injured (by sin) are repaired and healed.
Rightly then, my brothers, as Saint Bernard says, is this Name to be invoked by us, because it is a quick protection against lassitude and against the languor that follows grief;
it removes aridity,
the fear of isolation,
disgust with spiritual reading,
agitation of the soul or feelings of tepidity or scrupulosity in our affections.
No matter how prolonged the prayers seem; no matter how deep the lassitude of soul, what sweetness this Name brings! When neither eternal damnation can free us from or disperse our apathy of soul, if we but retire to a quiet place and invoke the Name of Jesus with love in the depths of our heart, we will quickly be suffused with joy, and an eagerness so great will return, that tongue cannot express it, nor words in sermons portray it, for it transcends the acuteness of human understanding and is, as it were, flooded with a certain kind of radiating light...Now I hold that this is because Jesus, when one invokes his Name with a deep and humble love, recalling it secretly and silently (in one's heart) causes the apathy and sadness to disappear and to be replaced by joy.
- Saint Bernardine of Siena
- The world is now threatened with the direst calamities. Each one of us can do much to save himself from the impending evils, and we can do much to help the world, the Church and our Holy Father the Pope, simply by repeating frequently, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus"
- The Divine Name is...a mine of riches; it is the fount of the highest holiness...
- ...,we must get into the habit of saying it devoutly, frequently, hundreds and hundreds of times every day. Far from being a burden, it will be an immense joy and consolation.
- The Holy Name of Jesus is...an all-powerful prayer. Our Lord Himself solemnly promises that whatever we ask the Father in His Name we shall receive. God never fails to keep His word.
- Each time we say, "Jesus," we give God infinite joy and glory, for we offer Him all the infinite merits of the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ.
- Each time, we we say "Jesus" let us clearly wish to offer God all the Masses being said all over the world for all our intentions. We thus share in these thousands of Masses.
- All we have to do is to say reverently, "Jesus, Jesus," with the intention of offering these Masses and participating in them. By doing this we have a share in all of them.
- Each time we say "Jesus, it is an act of perfect love, for we offer to God the infinite love of Jesus.
- The Holy Name of Jesus saves us from innumerable evils and delivers us especially from the power of the devil, who is constantly seeking to do us harm.
- The Name of Jesus gradually fills our souls with a peace and a joy we never had before.
- The Name of Jesus give us such strength that our sufferings become light and easy to bear.
- We must... do our best to form the habit of saying, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus," very often every day...
- Every Christian must turn to God and ask Him to have mercy on us. The easiest of all prayers, as we have seen, is the Name of Jesus.
- Everyone...can invoke this holy name hundreds of time a day, not only for his own intentions, but also to ask God to deliver the world from impending ruin. It is amazing what one person who prays can do to save his country and save society...
- You may ask...how it is that one word can work such prodigies?...with a word God made the world. With His word, He called out of nothing the suns, the moon, the stars...By His word He sustains the whole universe into existence.
- Does not the priest...in Holy Mass, work a prodigy of prodigies; does he not transform the little white host into the God of Heaven and earth by the words of Consecration...
- ..."Jesus" signifies "God-made-man" viz., the Incarnation.
- How ungrateful are those Christians who never thank God for all He has done for them...
- When you say the Name of Jesus, remember to thank Our Sweet Lord for His Incarnation.
- Has He not much more reason to feel grieved and hurt with you and me, who thank Him so little for all He has done for us in the Incarnation and in His Passion?
- ...when we say, "Jesus," we should also wish to offer the Passion and Death of Our Lord to t he Eternal Father for His greater glory and for our own intentions.
- Just as Our Lord became man for each one of us, as if each one of us were the only one in existence, so He died, not for all men in general, but for each one in particular. When He was hanging on the Cross, He saw me, He say you...and offered every pang of His dreadful agony, every drop of His Precious Blood, all of His humiliations, all the insults and outrages He received for me, for you, for each one of us! He has given us all these infinite merits as our very own. We may offer them hundreds and hundreds of times every day to the Eternal Father--for ourselves and for the world.
- We do this every time we say "Jesus". At the same time, let us wish to thank Our Lord for all He has suffered for us.
- St. Mechtilde was accustomed to offer the Passion of Jesus in union with all the Masses of the world for the souls in Purgatory. Our Lord once showed her Purgatory open and thousands of souls going up to Heaven as the result of her little prayer.
- It is most regrettable that many Catholics do not know, love and ask the Angels (our dearest and best friends) for help. The easiest way to do so is to say the Name of Jesus in t heir honor. This given them the greatest joy. They in return will help us in all our troubles and keep us safe from many dangers.
- Our Sweet Lord is present in millions of consecrated Hosts in the countless Catholic churches of thew world. During many hours of the busy day and during the long nights, He is forgotten and left alone.
- We can do much to console and comfort Him by sayings, "My Jesus, I love and adore Thee in all the Consecrated Host of the world, and I thank Thee with all my heart for remaining on all the altars of the world for love of us." Then say twenty, fifty or more times the Name of Jesus with this intention.
- We may do most perfect penance for our sins by offering the Passion and Blood of Jesus many times each day for this intention.
- The Precious Blood purifies our souls and raises us to a high degree of holiness. It is all so easy! We have only to repeat lovingly, joyfully, reverently, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus".
- If we are suffering from weak health, if we are in pain, if some disease is taking hold of our poor bodies, He can cure us...By all means consult doctors, use remedies, but above all call on Jesus!
- How often...do you pray for the Holy Souls? Days and weeks and perhaps months pass and you do little, perhaps nothing for them! You can easily help them if you will say frequently the Name of Jesus...
- We thank our friends most effusively for any little favor they do us, but we forget or neglect to thank God for His immense love of us...
- By repeating often the Name of Jesus, we correct this grave fault and thank God and give Him great joy and glory.
- The great, great evil, the great danger that threatens each of us every day and every night of our lives, is the devil...
- He cannot attack God, so he turns all his implacable hatred and malice against us.
- We are destined to take the thrones he and the other bad angels have lost. This lashes him into wild fury against us. Many foolish, ignorant Catholics never think of this; they take no care to defend themselves and thus allow the devil to inflict on them infinite harm and case them untold sufferings.
- Our best, our easiest remedy is the Name of Jesus. It drives the devil flying from our sides and saves us from countless evils.
- ...say constantly, this all-powerful Name and the devil can do you no harm. Say it in all dangers, in all temptations. Wake up if you have been asleep. Open your eyes to the terrible enemy who is every seeking your ruin.
- Priests should preach frequently on this all-important subject. They should warn their penitents in the confessional against the devil. They counsel people to avoid bad companions, who made them lead bad lives. Incomparably more dreadful is the influence of the devil on them.
- Teachers, catechists and mothers should constantly warn their children against he devil.
- The city of Lisbon was saved from the plague by the Holy Name of Jesus. The bishop Monsignor Andre Dias urged and implored the people to call on the Holy Name of Jesus. He was seen wherever the disease was fiercest, urging, imploring the sick and the dying, as well as those who had not as yet been stricken down, to repeat "Jesus, Jesus" "Write it on cards," he said, "and keep those cards on your persons; place them at night under your pillows; place them on your doors but above all, constantly invoke with your lips and in our hearts this most powerful Name."
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| Saint Bernardine of Siena |
The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph,
and the infant lying in the manger.
When they saw this,
they made known the message
that had been told them about this child.
All who heard it were amazed
by what had been told them by the shepherds.
And Mary kept all these things,
reflecting on them in her heart.
Then the shepherds returned,
glorifying and praising God
for all they had heard and seen,
just as it had been told to them.
When eight days were completed for his circumcision,
he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel
before he was conceived in the womb.
The name Jesus was given to the Holy Child at God's command (Luke 1:31). The Holy Name is all-powerful because of the Person who bears it; we honor it because of the command of Christ, that we should pray in His Name and because it reminds us of all the blessings we have received through our Holy Redeemer. Hence St. Paul was able to write to the Philippians: "...at the name of Jesus every knee should bend of those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth" (Phil. 2:10). By means of this devotion we also make amends for improper use of the Holy Name.
Act of Reparation for Blasphemies Uttered Against the Holy Name
O Jesus, my Savior and Redeemer, Son of the living God,
behold, we kneel before Thee and offer Thee our reparation;
we would make amends for all the blasphemies uttered against Thy holy name, for all the injuries done to Thee int he Blessed Sacrament,
for all the irreverence shown toward Thine immaculate Virgin Mother,
for all the calumnies and slanders spoken against Thy spouse,
the holy Church and Roman Church. O Jesus,
who hast said:
"If you ask the Father anything in My name, He will give it to you,"
we pray and beseech Thee for all our brethren who are in danger of sin;
shield them from every temptation to fall away from the true faith;
save those who are even now standing on the brink of the abyss;
to all of them give light and knowledge of truth, courage and strength
for the conflict with evil, perseverance in faith and active charity!
For this do we pray, most merciful Jesus, in Thy name, unto God the Father, with whom Thou livest and reignest
in the unity of the Holy Ghost world without end. Amen.
