Gospel
Luke 2:21-24
When eight days were completed for his circumcision, the child was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, just as it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord, and to offer the sacrifice of a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons, in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.
REFLECTION
the child was named Jesus,
The Holy Name of Jesus is written 977 times in the New Testament. The Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus is associaated with the Feast of the Circumcision. A child became a full member of his family when circumcised. It was at this time that he received his name.
Jesus is the name that contains everything. Jesus... YHWH saves. His name was given to the Incarnate Word by God Himself. The Name of Jesus is love and righteousness. It is above all names. When we hear the Name of Jesus, we picture or visualize the image of God in Jesus.
In the Catechism of the Catholic Church 2666:
But the one name that contains everything is the one that the Son of God received in his incarnation: JESUS. The divine name may not be spoken by human lips, but by assuming our humanity The Word of God hands it over to us and we can invoke it; "Jesus," "YHWH saves." The name "Jesus" contains all: God and man and the whole economy of creation and salvation. To pray "Jesus" is to invoke him and to call him within us. His name is the only one that contains the presence it signifies. Jesus is the Risen One, and whoever invokes the name of Jesus is welcoming the Son of God who loved him and who gave himself up for him.
In the Catechism of the Catholic Church 2668
The invocation of the Holy Name of Jesus is the simplest way of praying always. When the Holy Name is repeated often by a humbly attentive heart, the prayer is not lost by heaping up empty praises but holds fast to the Word and " brings forth fruit with patience". (Luke 8:15)
This prayer is possible at all times because it is not one occupation among others but the only occupation--that of loving God which animates and transfigures every action in Christ Jesus.
Click here for the pdf of the PAPA TOP SECRET III book on The Name, written by St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori with an introduction from Father Michael J. Truongluan, C.SsR.
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