In January we celebrate the Holy Name of Jesus. Honestly I don't think I'd ever really given it much thought in the past. Of course His name is holy. He's God after all. We pray in the name of Jesus. We make the sign of the cross in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. We pray the Our Father where we state "Hallowed be thy name." The second commandment states "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain." The Bible has multiple places that speak of the holiness of the name of the Lord.
Praise the Lord!
Praise, O servants of the Lord;
praise the name of the Lord.
2 Blessed be the name of the Lord
from this time on and forevermore.
You must know that for one who is called to be the head of a mission, the more he encloses of the good pertaining to that mission, the more good he will be able to communicate to others. Those goods will be like many seeds which he will lend to others, so that whoever has the fortune of wanting to acquire those seeds, may become the possessor of the harvest of those seeds. This happened in Adam who, being the first man, was constituted the head of all generations; and, he being the head, it was necessary for him to possess the seeds in order to give to others what is necessary for the development of human life. Regardless of the fact that these seeds have been expanded, dilucidated, known more, according to the goodwill of the following generations, to the capacity and the application they have used over these very seeds; nevertheless, Adam had them all within himself, and it can be said that everything comes from him. So, it can be said that, in being created by God, he was endowed with all sciences. What others learn with so many efforts, he possessed as gift in a surprising way. So, he possessed the knowledge of all the things of this earth; he had the science of all plants, of all herbs and of the virtue which each of them contained; he had the science of all species of animals and of how he should use them; he had the science of music, of singing, of writing, of medicine – in sum, of everything. And if the generations possessed each one its special science, Adam possessed them all. See, then, how it is necessary for one who must be the head to enclose within himself all the good which he must share with others.
Vol. 18, November 12, 1925
The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
Jn 10:3
2158 God calls each one by name. Everyone's name is sacred. the name is the icon of the person. It demands respect as a sign of the dignity of the one who bears it.
Saying that the name is the icon of the person is to say that the name is the "representative symbol (of a person or thing) worthy of veneration." Definitions from Oxford Languages But the name of someone is more than just a representation of the named. Jesus creates and blesses though pronouncing His Fiat, that is His name. He is the word (Fiat), and He is the life and with His breath (Fiato) He breathed life into man. With His creative word He blessed His Mother at the start of His Passion and through her, all creatures. He did not only bless creatures but every act, word and all the thoughts of each one and all created things as well all that which would serve creatures. And this creative word continues to bless without ceasing and without diminishing its source. With each blessing He renews His attributes within Creation and He renews His image and likeness in each creature, in other words His sanctity. But as He blesses each creature and all their acts and everything which serves them so He also wants to be blessed by the creature in all, though all, and with all. He wants to see the creature there with His own blessing everywhere to reciprocate Him and keep Him company.
O Celestial Mama, the hour of the separation is approaching, and I come to You. O Mother, give me Your Love and Your reparations; give me Your sorrow, because together with You I want to follow, step by step, adored Jesus.
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O my sweet Mama, do You know why adorable Jesus has come to You? Ah, He has come to say the last good-bye, to tell You the last word, to receive the last embrace!
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O Jesus, in such a harrowing hour for Your most tender Heart, what a lesson of filial and Loving obedience to Your Mama You give us! What a sweet harmony passes between You and Mary! What a sweet enchantment of Love rises up to the Throne of the Eternal One and extends for the salvation of all creatures of the earth!
O my Celestial Mama, do You know what adored Jesus wants from You? Nothing but Your last blessing. It is true that from every particle of Your being nothing but blessings and praises come out for Your Creator; but Jesus, in taking leave of You, wants to hear the sweet word: “I bless You, O Son.” And that “I bless You” removes all the blasphemies from His hearing, and descends, sweet and gentle, into His Heart. And Jesus wants Your “I bless You,” almost to place it as a shelter from all the offenses of the creatures.
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I see that You are about to leave to go there, where the Will of the Father calls You. The Love between Son and Mother is so great as to render You inseparable, so You leave Yourself in the Heart of Your Mama, and the Queen and Sweet Mama places Herself into Yours; otherwise it would have been impossible for You to separate. But then, Blessing each other, You give Her the last kiss to strengthen Her in the bitter pains She is about to suffer; and giving Her Your last good-bye, You leave.
The Hours of the Passion, excerpts from the First and Second Hour
In order to create the universe, I pronounced one Fiat, and by the Fiat alone I reordered and embellished heaven and earth. In creating man, my omnipotent breath infused life in him. In giving start to my Passion, with my omnipotent and creative word I wanted to bless my Mama. But it was not Her alone that I blessed; in my Mama I saw all creatures. She was the one who had primacy over everything, and in Her I blessed all, and each one. Even more, I blessed each thought, word, act, etc.; I blessed each thing that was to serve the creature. Just as when my omnipotent Fiat created the sun, and this sun, without decreasing in light or in heat, keeps following its course for all, and for each of the mortals; in the same way, my creative word, in blessing, remained in the act of blessing always – always, without ever ceasing to bless, just as the sun will never cease to give its light to all creatures.
“But this is not all yet. With my blessing I wanted to renew the qualities of Creation. I wanted to call my Celestial Father to bless, in order to communicate power to the creature; I wanted to bless her in My name, and of the Holy Spirit, in order to communicate to her wisdom and love, and therefore renew the memory, the intellect and the will of the creature, restoring her as sovereign of everything.
“Know, however, that in giving, I want. And my dear Mama understood, and She immediately blessed Me, not only for Herself, but in the name of all. Oh! if all could see this blessing of mine, they would feel it in the water they drink, in the fire that warms them, in the food they take, in the sorrow that afflicts them, in the moans of prayer, in the remorses of guilt, in the abandonment of creatures. In everything they would hear my creative word saying to them – but unfortunately it is not heard: ‘I bless you in the name of the Father, of Myself, the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. I bless you to help you, I bless you to defend you, to forgive you, to console you - I bless you to make you a saint.’ And the creature would echo my blessings, by blessing Me too, in everything. These are the effects of my blessing; and my Church, instructed by Me, echoes Me, and in almost all circumstances, in the administration of the Sacraments and others, She gives Her blessing.”
Vol. 12, November 28, 1920
“Daughter of my Volition, you must know that only your Jesus knows all the secrets of my Fiat, because I being the Word of the Father, I glorify myself by making myself (the) narrator of that which he has done for the creature.
“Therefore his love is exuberant; in each thing that he did he called you, as much in the works of the creation, as in the works of my redemption; and if you listened to his call by saying to him: ‘I am here, what do you want?,’ he made for you the gift of his works, if you didn’t respond, he remained to always call you, even though you might not have listened to him.
“Now, if he created the sky, he called you in that azure vault by saying to you: ‘My daughter, come to see how very beautiful the sky is that I have created for you. I have created it in order to make of it a gift; come to receive this great gift. If you don’t listen to me, I cannot give it to you, and you make me remain with the gift suspended in my hands and to always call you; nor will I cease calling you, even to such that I do not see you possessor of my gift.’ The sky contains a most great extension, such that the earth can be called a little hole compared to it. Therefore everyone holds their place and a sky for each one; and I call them all by name, in order to make the gift of it. But what is not his sorrow, to call and recall (and) not to be listened to, and they look (at) the sky as if it were not a gift that has been given to them?
“This, my Volition, loves so much, that as he created the sun, thus he called you with his voices of light, and went in search of you and of everyone in order to make a gift of it. So that your name is written in the sun, in characters of light, nor can I forget it; and as his light descends from his sphere and even arrives to you , thus he goes always calling you. So that he is not content to call you from the heights of his sphere, but loving you always more, he wants to descend even to the base, and by way of light and heat says to you: ‘Receive my gift; this sun, for you, I have created it’; and if he is listened to, how he goes into festival! Because he sees that the creature possesses the sun as her property and gift that her Creator has made for her.
“Anywhere and everywhere he calls you. He calls you in the wind, now with rule, now with groans, now as if he might want to cry in order to move you to listen to him, so that you may receive the gift of this element. He calls you in the sea, by way of murmurs, in order to say to you: ‘This sea is yours; take it as a gift that I make you.’ Even in the air that you breathe, in the little bird that sings he calls you in order to say to you: ‘Of everything I make you (a) gift.’
“Now, if the soul responds to the call, the gift becomes confirmed; if she does not respond, the gifts remain as suspended between the heaven and the earth. Because if my Will calls, it is because he wants to be called, in order to maintain the commerce between himself and creatures, in order to make himself known and in order to make arise the incessant love between himself and one who lives in his Fiat; because only one who lives in his Divine Volition more easily senses his so many calls, because while he calls her in his works, he makes himself felt in the depths of her soul, and hence she is called from both parts.
“And then, who (can) tell you how many times I called you and call in all the acts of my humanity? [I was] conceived and I called you, in order to make you the gift of my conception; I was born and I called you more strongly, and I arrived to cry, to groan (and) to wail, in order to move you to compassion, so that you might immediately respond to me, in order to make you the gift of my birth, tears, groans and whimpers. If my Celestial Mama wrapped me, I called you in order to wrap you together with me. In short, I called you in every word that I said, in every step that I made, in every suffering that I suffered, in every drop of my blood; even in my ultimate breath that I gave upon the cross I called you, in order to make you (the) gift of everything; and in order to put you in security I put you together with me into the hands of my Celestial Father.
“Where have I not called you, in order to make you (the) gift of that which I did, in order to vent my love, in order to make you feel how much I loved you and make descend into your heart the sweetness of my enrapturing voice, that enraptures, creates and conquers, and also in order to hear your voice that might say to me: ‘Here I am for you; tell me, Jesus, what you want?’, how I reciprocate with my love and how it protests that you accept my gifts, and thus I might be able to say: ‘I have been listened to; my daughter has recognized me and she loves me.?’
“It is true that these are excesses of our love but to love and not to be recognized and loved, cannot be endured, nor can one continue to live. Therefore we will continue our follies of love, our stratagems, in order to give the course to our life of love.”
Then he added, with a still more intense emphasis of love:
“My daughter, so many are our sighs, our anxieties, because we want that the creature be always with us, because we want to always give her of ours. But do you know what we want to give her? Our Will. Giving her this, there is no good that we don’t give her. Then, having as drowned her with our love, with our beauty, sanctity and so forth, we say: ‘We have given you much, and you give us nothing?’ And the creature, as confused, because she has nothing that she can give us, and if she has something it is ours, looks then at her will and she gives it to us as the most beautiful homage to her Creator.
“And we, do you know what we do? If she might give her will to us in every instant, so many times would we give her the merit, as if she might hold so many wills for how many times she has given it to us; and so many times we give her ours, for how many times she has given hers to us, doubling so many times in her our sanctity, our love, etc.”
I in hearing this, said: “My dear Jesus, I earn much, in receiving so many times the merit for how many times I give you my will, and having yours for exchange is the greatest profit for me; and your profit, what is it?”
And he, assuming a smile: “To you the merit, and to me the profit of receiving all the glory of my Divine Will; and how many times I give him to you, so many times he doubles, he multiplies, he centuples my divine glory, that I receive through means of the creature. So that I can say: ‘She gives me everything, and I give her everything.’”
Vol. 35, January 16, 1938
See then, what blessing means: confirmation of Our creative work, because the work We do once is so filled with wisdom, with sublimity and with beauty, that We love to repeat it always. And if Our blessing is nothing other than the sigh of Our Heart to see Our image restored in the creatures, as well as the repetition of Our confirmation of what We want to do, the sign of the Cross that the Church teaches to the faithful is nothing other than impetrating Our likeness on the part of creatures; and so, echoing Our blessing, they repeat: ‘In the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.’ Therefore, without knowing it, the Church and all the faithful harmonize with the eternal Creator, and all want the same thing: God, by blessing and pronouncing the words, ‘Father, Son and Holy Spirit’, wants to give His likeness; the creatures impetrate it by making the sign of the Cross, pronouncing the same words.”
Vol. 24, July 29, 1928
The Catechism confirms this in Baptism where we call on the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit to impart the holiness of God on the person being baptized.
2156 The sacrament of Baptism is conferred "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." In Baptism, the Lord's name sanctifies man, and the Christian receives his name in the Church.
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Now blessing in the name of the Lord impetrates His own image on the blessed. So in knowing the true name of an individual there is more than just knowing the label of someone. In the Bible it speaks of knowing the name of someone as being equivalent to an understanding of their very essence.
But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
Isa 43:1
Why do you ask for the demon’s name?
Of course not only will an Exorcist use the name of a devil to gain control over him but by calling on the name of Jesus we are given command as well.
And Pope Benedict reflects on Jacob's attempt to gain power over his assailant by asking him his name, in the end he ends up giving his own name and gaining a new identify.
However, in this act of surrender paradoxically Jacob too emerges victorious because he receives a new name with the recognition of his victory by his adversary, who says to him: “You shall no longer be spoken of as Jacob, but as Israel, because you have contended with divine and human beings and have prevailed” (v. 29). “Jacob” was a name that recalled the Patriarch’s problematic beginnings; in Hebrew, in fact, it recalls the term “heel” and takes the reader back to the time of Jacob’s birth when, as he left his mother’s womb, he held onto the heel of his twin brother (cf. Gen 25:26), almost prefiguring the unfair advantage he would take over his brother in adulthood; however the name Jacob also recalls the verb “to deceive, to supplant”. Well, now, in the struggle in this act of surrender and submission, the Patriarch reveals his true identity as a deceiver, the one who supplants; however the other, who is God, transforms this negative reality into something positive: Jacob the deceiver becomes Israel, he is given a new name as a sign of a new identity. Here, too, the account maintains its deliberate duplicity because the more probable meaning of the name Israel is “God is strong, God is victorious”.
Therefore Jacob has prevailed, he won – his adversary himself says so – but his new identity, which he has received from the adversary himself, affirms and bears witness to God’s victory. And when Jacob in turn asks his opponent his name, the latter refuses to say it, but reveals himself in an unequivocal gesture, giving him the blessing.
the story of Jacob wrestling with God by Pope Benedict XVI
The new name', she added, is a secret because it refers, above all, to the essential glory which the Blessed directly enjoy with our God. It concerns the subtle characteristics and unique tones of love with which the new Blessed and the Most High eternally love each other. This includes the primary joy that the Blessed one will receive from the entire universe and which he, in turn, will give to the entire universe. Also, it is a secret in this life because Of sin which obscures everything,
Don't you want to reveal your new name to me?
Impossible! You would die from the joy. Any strictly celestial understanding (notion) produces a joy incompatible with earthly life. However, you can call me Tenderlyloved. I believe that is the earthly word that is closest to my new name since I possess only the most remote participation in the Divine Tenderness.
Tenderly-Loved, copyright 1994, pg. 26
This new Heavenly name that she speaks of is also referred to in scriptures and defined in the Catechism.
2159 The name one receives is a name for eternity. In the kingdom, the mysterious and unique character of each person marked with God's name will shine forth in splendor. "To him who conquers . . . I will give a white stone, with a new name written on the stone which no one knows except him who receives it." "Then I looked, and Lo, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads."
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Rev 14:1
“Behold therefore so much is my love that I want that one live in my Will that at whatever cost, although there might be needed continuous miracles I will do them. But have you noticed my tenderness, my strong love? that having missed her course I don’t reproach her, I don’t say anything to her and if I see that she notices that she has missed it I encourage her, I commiserate her in order to not put mistrust in her and all goodness I say to her: Don’t fear, I have supplied for you and you will be more attentive, isn’t (this) true? And she seeing my goodness loves me more. I know what I must give of mine, in order to have that the creature might live in my Will, and therefore I will do as a king, that greatly loves that his kingdom be populated. He makes it (known) to the whole world, that whoever wants to (can) come into his kingdom and he wants it known, in order to send them money for the trip, that he will make them find a residence at their disposition, attire and abundant foods, the king promises to give to them such riches, as to make them rich and happy; so much will be the goodness of this king, that he will have life together with the people, that he loves so much that with his riches he has ransomed them from the miseries and unhappiness of life.
“Such am I, I will make known to the entire world, that I want the people of my Divine Volition, and provided that they give me their name and they will make me know that they want to come into my kingdom, I will give them all the goods, unhappinesses won’t have a place in her, each one will possess her kingdom, she will be king of herself, and they will have life together with their Creator. I will show off so much in giving, that everyone will remain enraptured by it. My daughter, oh! how I long for it, this living of the creature in my Will, and pray and yearn together with me for it and it (will) be sweet for you to put forth (your) life for a kingdom so holy.”
Vol. 34, June 6, 1937
When the creature has the firm resolve to live in God's Will their name becomes written in Heaven in characters of light, she is enrolled in the Celestial militia and becomes heir and daughter in the Kingdom. She becomes confirmed in the goods of her Creator and if she remains on the earth she will not be seen as an exile but as an officiator of the Celestial militia.
“Now, you should know, that as the soul repeatedly and firmly decides to not live anymore of her will, but of ours, her name becomes written in Heaven, with indelible characters of Light and she becomes enrolled in the Celestial militia, as heir and daughter of the kingdom of the Divine Will; but this is not enough for our love, we confirm her in good, in a way that she will feel such horror for every slight sin, that she won’t be capable anymore of falling, not only, but she will remain confirmed in the goods, in the love, in the sanctity, et cetera, of her Creator, she will be as invested by the prerogative of the District, she will not be looked at anymore as exiled, and if she will remain on earth, she will be as officiating of the Celestial militia, not as exiled, she will hold all goods at her disposition, she can say: being that his Will is all mine, that which is of God is mine. Rather she will feel herself possessor of her Creator and since she won’t work anymore with her will but with mine, all the barriers are broken that impeded her from feeling her Creator, the distances have disappeared, the dissimilarities between her and God don’t exist anymore, she will feel so loved by He who has created her, as to feel (her) heart burst with love, in order to love He who loves her, and feeling herself loved by God is the joy, the honor, the greatest glory for the creature. My daughter, do not wonder, they are our goals, the purpose for which the creature was created, to find in her our life, our reigning Will, our love, in order to be loved and in order to love her, if this was not so, all the Creation would be an unworthy work of us.”
Vol. 34, June 28, 1937
This morning, after much struggling, my always lovable Jesus made Himself seen in my interior - tired, as if He wanted to rest; and since there was some kind of a prop within me, He extended His arms to cling to that prop, and placing His head upon it, He rested. And not only did He rest, but He invited me to rest with Him. How enjoyable it was, to be leaning on that prop together with Jesus, to take a little rest after so many bitternesses!
Then, afterwards, He said to me: “My daughter, do you want to know what this prop is, which relieves us so much and gives us rest? It is all your acts done in my Will that formed this prop for Me and for you, which is so strong as to be able sustain the weight of Heaven and earth, which I contain within Me, and to give Me rest. My Will alone contains this strength and this virtue so great. The acts done in my Will bind Heaven and earth, and enclose within themselves the divine power, such as to be able to sustain a God.” On hearing this, I said to Him: ‘My Love, yet, with all this prop You are talking about, I fear You may leave me. What shall I do without You? And You know how miserable and good at nothing I am. So, I fear that, as You leave me, your Will too may depart from me.’ And He: “My daughter, why do you fear? This fear is your human will which would want to enter the field to take a few steps. My Will excludes every fear, because It has nothing to fear; on the contrary, It is confident of Itself and unshakable. Even more, you must know that as the soul decides to let herself be possessed by my Will and to live in It, since my Will is linked with all created things and there is nothing over which It does not have Its dominion, in the same way, the soul remains linked with all created things, and as she does her acts, her daughtership with my Will, her dwelling, her possession, remain inscribed on all created things with indelible characters. Take a look at the whole universe: your name, your daughtership with my Will, is written with indelible characters in the heavens, in the stars, in the sun – in everything. So, how can it ever be possible that this Eternal and Divine Mother may leave Her dear daughter, born of Her and raised with so much love? Therefore, remove every fear if you do not want to embitter Me.” And while He was saying this, I looked into the heavens, into the sun and in all the rest, and I could see my name written, with the title of daughter of His Will. May everything be for the glory of God and to the confusion of my poor soul.
Vol. 17, July 29, 1924
Then, after I suffered a little, He repeated: “Now I want to show you how I love you.” So He showed His Heart opened, and immense seas of power, of wisdom, of goodness, of love, of beauty, of sanctity, came out from within It. In the center of each one of these seas it was written: “Luisa, daughter of my immensity, daughter of my power, daughter of my wisdom, daughter of my goodness, daughter of my love, daughter of my beauty, daughter of my sanctity.” The more I looked, the more I remained confused. And Jesus: “Have you seen how much I love you? And how, not only in my Heart, but in all of my attributes I carry your name written, and your name written in Me makes ever new currents of grace, of light, of love, etc., open for you? Yet, you tell Me that I do not love you? How can you even suspect this?” Only Jesus knows how crushed I was left, thinking that I had offended my Jesus, and even in His presence. Oh God, what pain! How awful guilt is!
Vol. 14, May 15, 1922
“My blessed daughter, continue to listen to me, let me vent my love, I can not contain it anymore, I want to tell you where my love arrives and where it can arrive and can do to one who lives in my Fiat. Do you believe that my Volition has been content, has said enough because he has enclosed the value, the love and (the) different offices of all the Creation in the creature that lives as (in) harmony in Him, with one Will alone? no, no; you should know that I came upon the earth, and in the heat of my love displayed my life, my sufferings and my death itself, in order to repurchase my Divine Will for (the) benefit of creatures, that with so much ingratitude they had rejected and hence lost. So that my life served as disbursement of the price that was needed in order to reacquire it and to give it in possession of my children, therefore there was needed a God, in order to be able to hold sufficient worth to be able to buy a Divine Will, you see therefore how it is certain that the kingdom of my Volition will come, because the purchase was made by me.
“Now my Will, after having formed the order of the Creation, with all sumptuousness and sublimity of his creative work, as the creature goes repeating her acts, in one act he pronounces his Fiat and forms there my life and encloses its value, in another act he pronounces his Fiat and encloses in her sufferings the value of my sufferings, he pronounces his Fiat over her tears and puts there the value of mine, his Fiat follows in her works, in her footsteps, in her heartbeat and he encloses there the value of my works, of my footsteps and of my love, there is no prayer and even natural acts that he does not enclose the value of my acts.
“So that (in) one who lives in my Will, I feel myself repeat my life, and it doubles the worth in order to buy my Divine Will to the benefit of the human generations; one can say, that there is a competition between me and her, to whom wants to give more, in order to make that my Will might be possessed again by the human family.
“But it is not yet everything, if he doesn’t do complete works he is not content, to the value of the Creation and Redemption that he has enclosed there in the soul, there he adds on with an incredible love, there he encloses the Celestial Country and makes resound his glory, his joys, the eternal beatitudes, as seal and confirmation, of the creative and redeeming work that he has formed in her. After this, being more sure, he creates there his heartbeat, his breath, he makes circulate more than blood his life, his light, and as triumphant he gives her a new name, calling her ‘my Fiat’, this name is the most beautiful name, that will make all (of) Heaven smile and all (of) hell tremble, that name I can not give if not to one who lives in my Volition and has let me do in her that which I want.
“My daughter, what can’t my omnipotent Fiat do and give? he arrives to so much that he gives his rights over his own power, over his love, over his justice, he incorporates with himself the will of the creature and says to her: be attentive, I don’t want other from you than (that) you do that which I do, therefore it is necessary that you be always together with me, and I with you.
Vol. 34, January 24, 1937
Matthew 23: 16-22
