Holy Is His Name

 

To My Readers: This week's guest poster, John Gregory, tells us about the awe and reverence all should have for the Name of God, especially in this age where God's Name is used more as a "curse word" when people are angry than in prayer and with the great respect it commands. Please feel free to comment as usual. If you have a specific question or comment for me, I will respond as always, but it may take me a bit longer to do so this week. 

God bless you all, my dear readers---Introibo

Holy Is His Name

By John Gregory

His name was called Jesus, which was called by the angel, 

before he was conceived in the womb (St. Luke 2: 21)

We shall be rewarded if we bless, honor and reverence the Name of the Lord.  What shall be the case if we curse, dishonor or treat His Most Holy Name with contempt?  The question answers itself.  Punishment will need to be inflicted upon us.  I have taught my children well that they should not get into bad habits, in the first place so as to avoid having to overcome them and dealing with the inevitable punishments that await them in this and or the next life.  Consider the man who as a child grew up in a neighborhood where all his “friends” used the Lord’s Name in Vain regularly.  The example rubs off and he eventually falls into the habit himself.  By the grace of God, he with much effort eventually overcomes the habit.  This he does in part by saying “God bless America” rather than what used to follow the first word in that phrase.  For decades he never uttered the phrase again.  Then one day the person closest to him, thereby the one who can have the most positive or negative effect on him, betrayed him in the worst possible ways.  The man the utters a tirade of bad language and uses the Lord’s Name in Vain once again.  

Now the poor soul finds himself in the predicament where it becomes a moral impossibility to stop the habit again.  For his last state has become worse than the first and it would have been better for him not to have converted to the ways of God and strayed again.  This sounds dire, but for those of good will nothing is impossible with God, and He will grant the extraordinary graces, now needed to overcome the habit if the person strives as best he can to overcome it, asking the prayers from others and begging God to help him.  The point is that there are many reasons not to purposely try to anger others.  Not just because it is wrong to do so in and of itself.  But because a person can ultimately be damned because of it.  No small thing.  It is enough to be responsible for our own sins!

Have you noticed how the Ave and Pater start out praising our Lady and our Lord before they petition them?  Not a coincidence.  In prayer our first duty is to honor Our Lord’s Most Holy Name.  Let us see what the Catechism of Trent [CoT] has to say about this:

“Hallowed be thy name”

WHY THIS PETITION IS PLACED FIRST

What we are to ask of God and in what order, the Master and Lord of all has Himself taught and commanded.  For prayer is the ambassador and interpreter of our thoughts and desires; and consequently we pray well and properly when the order of our petitions follows the order in which the things sought are desirable.  

Now, genuine charity tells us to direct our whole soul and all our affections to God, for He alone being the one supreme Good, it is but reasonable that we love Him with superior and singular love.  On the other hand, God cannot be loved from the heart and above all things else, unless we prefer His honor and glory to all things created.  For all the good that we or others possess, all that in any way bears the name of good, comes from Him, and is therefore inferior to Him, the sovereign Good. 

Hence, that our prayers may be made with due order, our Saviour has placed this Petition regarding the sovereign Good at the head of all the other Petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, thus showing us that before asking the things necessary for ourselves or for others, we ought to ask those that appertain to God’s honor, and to manifest and make known to Him the affections and desires of our hearts in this regard.  Acting thus, we shall be faithful to the claims and rules of charity, which teaches us to love God more than ourselves and to ask, in the first place, those things we desire on His account, and next, those things we desire on our own.

We also use Our Lord’s Name in Vain by uttering the name of Jesus in anger or in a causal or other disrespectful way.  Perhaps if we catch ourselves doing this we can add “please help me” after uttering His Name aloud in anger and then say an Ave, Pater and Gloria afterwards, turning a negative into a positive as it were.  This is why we do not let our children watch TV or have phones, Our Lord’s sacred Name is blasphemed everywhere and all the time.  When the disrespectful use of Our Lord’s Name enters the head, it is not too far from the mouth.  This is especially the case with children.  Parents.  Take heed.  You will have to render a strict account.  Please do something about this now, while you still can.  Don’t find out what the repercussions will be the hard way.  Let us turn to the Catechism once again to reaffirm what has been discussed:

“Jesus”

Jesus is the proper name of the God-man and signifies Savior: a name given Him not accidentally, or by the judgment or will of man, but by the counsel and command of God.  For the Angel announced to Mary His mother: Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus. (Luke 1: 31) He afterwards not only commanded Joseph, who was espoused to the Virgin, to call the child by that name, but also declared the reason why He should be so called. Joseph, son of David, said the Angel, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.  And she shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call his name Jesus.  For he shall save his people from their sins. (St. Matthew 1: 20)

In the Sacred Scriptures we meet with many who were called by this name.  So, for example, was called the son of Nave, who succeeded Moses, and, by special privilege denied to Moses, conducted into the land of promise the people whom Moses had delivered from Egypt; and also the son of Josedech, the priest. But how much more appropriate it is to call by this name our Savior, who gave light, liberty and salvation, not to one people only, but to all men, of all ages—to men oppressed, not by famine, or Egyptian or Babylonian bondage, but sitting in the shadow of death and fettered by the galling chains of sin and of the devil—who purchased for them a right to the inheritance of heaven and reconciled them to God the Father!  In those men who were designated by the same name we see foreshadowed Christ the Lord, by whom the blessings just enumerated were poured out on the human race.

All other names which according to prophecy were to be given by divine appointment to the Son of God, are comprised in this one name Jesus; for while they partially signified the salvation which He was to bestow upon us, this name included the force and meaning of all human salvation.

As the priest, the alter Christus turns the wrath of almighty God away from the people, primarily through the Mass, what does the use of Jesus Christ’s Most Holy Name, when used in vain, and especially by priests do?

“Christ”

To the name Jesus is added that of Christ, which signifies the anointed. This name is expressive of honor and office, and is not peculiar to one thing only, but common to many; for in the Old Law priests and kings, whom God, on account of the dignity of their office, commanded to be anointed, were called christs.  For priests commend the people to God by unceasing prayer, offer sacrifice to Him, and turn away His wrath from mankind.  Kings are entrusted with the government of the people; and to them innocence and the punishment of guilt.  As, therefore, both these functions seem to represent the majesty of God on earth, those who were appointed to the royal or sacerdotal office were anointed with oil.  Furthermore, since Prophets, as the interpreters and ambassadors of the immortal God, have unfolded to us the secrets of heaven and by salutary precepts and the prediction of future events have exhorted to amendment of life, it was customary to anoint them also.

“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain” (Exodus 20: 7) [CoT]

As an aside, the Protestants list the Commandments differently than the Catholics.  They split the first two Commandments into three and combine the ninth and tenth into one.  This way they make the part about not making graven images stand out so they can accuse Catholics of worshipping statues, and they lump together the coveting of another’s wife and the coveting of his material goods as if they are the same species of sin when they are quite different, as coveting another’s wife can be linked more with the sixth Commandment – Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery.  

It is important to understand that if you are in such a bad habit of using the Lord’s Name in Vain that it comes out of your mouth without any premeditation you are not guilty of a mortal sin in this instance, but you are guilty of forming the habit in the first place, and it is incumbent upon you to do all in your power to get out of that habit.  Sometimes we are about to use the Lord’s Name in Vain without malice of forethought, but for one instant before it comes out, we are given the grace to refrain, but say it anyway in our anger.  Woe to us guilty of this crime, this is anything but doing all in our power to overcome this blasphemy.  If we are serious about eliminating this habit, and we must be, we must avoid the occasions where we are most likely to commit it.  Apart from drinking, these occasions are often those which we are most fond of, whether it be playing chess, and making a blunder that loses the game, or watching football, such as when your team loses on a bad call or turnover.  We break the first commandment when we love something more than we love God.  If we cannot give up watching our favorite team for the love God, guess what we love more than God.  Yes, a woke-driven, greedy corporation.

WHY THIS COMMANDMENT IS DISTINCT FROM THE FIRST

The second Commandment of the divine law is necessarily comprised in the first, which commands us to worship God in piety and holiness.  For he who requires that honor be paid him, also requires that he be spoken of with reverence, and must forbid the contrary, as is clearly shown by these words of the Lord in Malachy: The son honoureth the father, and the servant his master; if then I be a father, where is my honour? (Mal 1: 6)

However, on account of the importance of the obligation, God wished to make the law, which commands His own divine and most holy name to be honored, a distinct Commandment, expressed in the clearest and simplest terms. [CoT]

In addition to the offensive and common phrases that combine the Most Holy Name of God with the use of the word “damn” in anger, and the use of the Holy Name of Jesus disrespectfully (which are in seemingly every movie in existence, and it is as if Hollywood makes it mandate to insert these blasphemies into each movie) is the common “Oh my God” phrase.  I doubt I am the only one sick and tired of hearing this phrase from everyone, everywhere, all the time. Do I need to remind the parents again to keep their children away from the cinema.  There is nothing good there, there is almost without exception something in each and every movie inserted to rape and warp the innocence of our youth.  They, more than anyone, copy what they hear.  The “oh my God” phrase is not just an innocent phrase, unless it is part of a legitimate prayer.  It is using the Lord’s Name in Vain.  It is the commonization and belittling of the Name above all Names, the source of all existence, the most Holy and Pure, Goodness Itself.

Blasphemy is contumely against God and is directly opposed to the desire of worshiping God.  It is primarily a sin of the tongue, but blasphemous thoughts, writing, actions are equally offensive to God.  Direct blasphemy takes place when contumelious speech is used intentionally to dishonor God; it is indirect blasphemy, if God’s dishonor is foreseen but not intended.  There is no specific difference between these two kinds of blasphemy.  

Heretical blasphemy contains expressions of heresy, such as the denial of God’s mercy, providence, justice, and this is an added sin against faith.  Imprecatory [a spoken curse] blasphemy contains imprecations against God that evil may come to Him.  Blasphemy is sometimes directed against God in His Person or Attributes, sometimes against His Saints, Angels, men, universe—in their relations to Him. (See theologian Davis, Moral and Pastoral Theology, Vol. II, [1935]).

To make sure we have a proper understanding of blasphemy and of who and to what extent one may be guilty of it, let take a glance at the work of Father Walter Ferrell:

Further attacks on the foundation of hope: Blasphemy

The angry man who spouts blasphemies is not necessarily guilty of sin; ordinarily he is only the victim of a limited vocabulary.  Though she is struggling for emphasis, not expletive, the vivacious young lady swaying on the subway strap and shouting the name of God above all the roar of the train is suffering from the same limitation.  These two are not at all in the same class as the university professor who calmly assures us that God is a symbol.  His is a sin, but a dry, dusty, languid sin, with little heart in it.  The complete blasphemer is seen in the atheist who viciously attacks the notion that God is good, that God is omnipotent, that He is the provider of His children in this world.  Here we have the sin which stands at the peak of all the sins of infidelity, a sin which consists in verbally insulting God.

By it we attribute to God something which does not belong to Him, or deny Him something that is His divine prerogative.  In its full stupidity it outstrips all sins against the moral virtues, even sins of despair and presumption against the virtue of Hope; it gives place reluctantly, only to that supreme sin which is hatred of God.  When blasphemy proceeds from hatred of God itself, then blasphemy is the supreme sin.

However brief it be, however softly whispered, there is nothing small about the smallest of blasphemies; for just one, any one, destroys our union with God.  In the human order an insulting word or a moment of infidelity does not necessarily destroy the love that binds a man and a woman together; but then that love is a natural thing, with roots deep in nature.  The love that binds us to God is not at all natural; its roots are not in nature.  From our side it must always be a frail, engrafted thing; in cherishing our union with God we must tread fearfully, carefully with the fear and caution looking out, not towards God, but towards ourselves.

An eavesdropper at the keyhole of the gate of heaven would listen in vain for God and His friends to hurl insults.  Blasphemy has no place in heaven, and no place among the friends of God on earth.  Men do of course blaspheme.  The devils too blaspheme, not with lips but with their affections.  Once the damned souls in hell are reunited to their bodies the uproar in hell will really commence, and one of the constant activities in the social life of hell will be blasphemy.  There is a terrible significance to this truth, for it indicates that there is no limit to the sins and wickedness of hell; in fact, that very wickedness is a part of the punishment of hell.  If nothing else would, this truth shows us that there is no joy in sin for if there were, the devils could have none of it. (See A Companion to the Summa, by theologian Walter Farrell [1940]).

I used to wonder why they treated Job’s wife telling Job to “bless” God and die as something reprehensible.  The below gives us an idea that she told him to “curse” God and die.   

Still more enormous is the guilt of those who, with impure and defiled lips, dare to curse or blaspheme the holy name of God—that name which is to be blessed and praised above measure by all creatures, or even the names of the Saints who reign with Him in glory.  So atrocious and horrible is this crime that the Sacred Scriptures, sometimes when speaking of blasphemy use the word blessing. [CoT]

We cannot let you go without a summation of the Angelic Doctor’s teaching on this issue found in Monsignor Paul J. Glenn’s work, A Tour Of The Summa:

Blasphemy is a direct disparaging of the divine goodness. It is therefore a sin in conflict with the faith. For he who has the faith confesses the divine goodness. Blasphemy, by its genus or the general essential class of sins to which it belongs, is always a mortal sin. We have seen that unbelief is the greatest of sins against faith. Blasphemy is an emphatic form of unbelief. Hence, in speaking of sins against faith, blasphemy is often called the worst of sins. The wicked in hell detest the divine goodness and justice, and thus they blaspheme. It is believable that, after the resurrection of the body at general judgment, human beings in hell will utter their blasphemies audibly.

Pastoral Note

The pastor will earnestly exhort the blasphemer to consider what an outrage he is guilty of in the sight of God, if his blasphemy is deliberate.  For such deliberate blasphemies the Council of Lateran bade the confessor to impose a most severe penance.  If, however, the blasphemies are indeliberate, the penitent will be advised to keep away from occasions of such scandal to others, to repeat the ‘Glory be to the Father” as often as he has blasphemed during the day, to determine seriously each day to diminish the number of his blasphemies that day, not to expect to get rid of an inveterate [long established, unlikely to change] habit in a moment, to curb his temper, for anger is usually the cause of impatient blasphemy, and to avoid, as far as possible, the company of those who are the occasion of his fits of temper.  In addition to these helps, he will, of course, be exhorted to go frequently to confession and Holy Communion, and to be faithful to his daily prayers.  By using such supernatural means, he may confidently hope to overcome the habit. (Moral and Pastoral Theology, Volume II, cited above). 

Lastly, let us get some advice from the great Sainted Doctor of the Church, Saint Alphonsus Liguori (Sermons from Saint Alphonsus Liguori):

Tell me, O blasphemers, if there by any of you present, what benefit do you derive from your accursed blasphemies?  You do not receive pleasure from them.  Bellarmine says, that blasphemy is a sin which produces no pleasure.  You derive no profit from them; for, as I have already said, your blasphemies are the cause of your poverty and wretchedness.  You derive no honor from them; your fellow blasphemers have a horror of your blasphemies, and call you a mouth of Hell.  Tell me, then, why you blaspheme.  Father, the habit which I have contracted is the cause of my blasphemies.  But, can this habit excuse you before God?  If a son beat his father, and say to him: My father, have compassion on me; for I have contracted a habit of beating you; would the father take pity on him?  You say, that you blaspheme through the anger caused by your children, your wife, or your master.  Your wife or your master put you into a passion, and you take revenge on the saints.  What injury have the saints done you?  They intercede before God in your behalf, and you blaspheme them.  But the Devil tempts me at that time.  

If the Devil tempts you, follow the example of a certain young man, who, when tempted to blaspheme, went for advice to the Abbot Pemene.  The abbot told him, that as often as the Devil tempted him to this sin, his answer should be: Why should I blaspheme that God who has created me, and bestowed so many benefits upon me?  I will for ever praise and bless him.  The young man followed the advice, and Satan ceased to tempt him.  When you are excited to anger, can you speak nothing but blasphemies?  Say on such occasions: Accursed sin, I hate thee; Lord assist me; Mary, obtain for me the gift of patience.  And if you have hitherto contracted the abominable habit of blaspheming, renew every morning, as soon as you rise, the resolution of doing violence to yourself to abstain from all blasphemies during the day: and then say three Aves to most holy Mary, that she may obtain for you the grace to resist every temptation by which you shall be assailed.

Conclusion

Blessed be God.  Blessed be His Holy Name.  Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true Man.  Blessed by the Name of Jesus.  Blessed be His Most Sacred Heart.    Blessed be Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.  Blessed be the great Mother of God, Mary most Holy.  Blessed be her Holy and Immaculate Conception.  Blessed be her Glorious Assumption.  Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother.  Blessed be Saint Joseph, her most chaste spouse.  Blessed be God in His Angels and in His Saints. May the heart of Jesus, in the Most Blessed Sacrament, be praised, adored, and loved with grateful affection, at every moment, in all the tabernacles of the world, even to the end of time.  Admirable is the Name of God!  Immaculate Heart of Mary, triumph soon!