The Most Holy name of Jesus, Friday, January 3, 2025
1 Jn 2:29-3:6; Ps 98:1, 3-6; Jn 1:29-34
Today we celebrate the Most Holy Name of Jesus. Did you know that devotion to the “Most Holy name of Jesus” which equals “Yahweh is salvation”, was promoted by the efforts of St Bernardine of Siena through the inscription of the monogram of the Holy Name, IHS? IHS being the abbreviation of the Greek name for Jesus which I cannot pronounce. Like many names, the name Jesus means something, it means “God Saves”. There are many words we can use to exclaim the name of Jesus, but the one I like the most is Jesus being God’s gift of love to us.
All throughout Advent, we were anticipating Jesus to be born. All the prophecies led up to the messiah being born. And, the hope at the time was, that the messiah would save them. So should it be then, that the name of the messiah would be Jesus, God Saves. For God came down and joined us as a man on earth, so he could save us. With that came two realities, God was now with us, and he came with a purpose, to save us from our sins.
How we describe Jesus to others is up to us, but St John the apostle, loves to describe Jesus in many ways. in John’s first letter, John describes our likeness to God himself by these gifts God gives us: Holiness, love, adoption, purity and sinlessness. For it is through these gifts we can be called the children of God. He starts by saying if we remain righteous, we will be with Him and be called holy, and that the Father has bestowed love on us. John goes on to say that if everyone has hope in Jesus, we can be made pure. If we follow Jesus and commit no sin, we will remain in Him and will know Him, and He will know us. However, John also exhorts us as well, because if we sin, we cannot know Him, so we must remain sinless. Kind of a paradox, but as long as we recognize our sin, and repent, we will know Him. John goes on in the gospel reading and says, John the Baptist saw Jesus coming and exclaimed “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” It is through Jesus where our sins will be forgiven. The one who came to save us, the one called Jesus, God Saves.
Today is a day for us to proclaim the most holy name of Jesus. First, by believing that Jesus will do what his name says, God Saves. And then by going forth, praising God, by singing a new song to the Lord, for He has done wondrous deeds. Sing joyfully to the Lord, sing praise, for all the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.
Saint James Catholic Church 