Jan 3 Wed
The Most Holy Name of Jesus.
During these days we center our lives around the stable at Bethlehem. Everything invites us to come closer to the Child who is God, to open our hearts to him, and to tell him that we love him.
Thus, we should never feel lonely or cut off from God, trying to find solutions or work things out on our own. We should direct everything to God, everything that concerns us. We will see things from his point of view and talk to him trustingly about them. Everything, from the most extraordinary things to the most ordinary, can be a topic of conversation with Jesus, as between two people who love each other, live close together and understand each other perfectly. The fruit of our dialogue with God is love, and a greater likeness to him each day. “In intentions, may Jesus be our aim; in affections, our Love; in conversation, our theme; in actions, our model."
We should try to increase our dialogue with Jesus, so that his most sweet Name may constantly speak to us and be more filled with meaning for us.
“In the breviary, we priests have two very beautiful prayers to St Joseph for before and after Mass. … They are words of praise to the holy Patriarch. One of them, translated a bit loosely, says: ‘Happy are you because it was granted you not only to see and hear God, but also to embrace him, kiss him, clothe him and care for him.’”
The Church praises Joseph, because to men, he was the father of God, the father of the Son of God, who deigned to become his son. Let’s go to St Joseph to learn from him how to call Jesus by name.
St. Josemaría taught an aspiration which will make it much easier for us to achieve that tender, intimate dialogue with the Master: “Jesus, Jesus, be always Jesus for me!" “Iesu, Iesu, esto mihi semper Iesus!" If we say it devoutly it will help us come to the point where He will always be Jesus for us, the same Jesus who called us, and for whose sake we have given up everything to follow his way. It will ensure that our hearts never become hardened, and that our eyes never become so dimmed that instead of Jesus we see only a task to be performed, a job to be done, duties to be fulfilled, or even a mere rule of life. When we invoke Jesus with this aspiration, we will find that we never lose that sense of friendship, or our pleasant and intimate conversation with him. Then Jesus will always be our Life, our Love, and our Way.
“Don't be afraid to call our Lord by his name –Jesus– and to tell him that you love him." Let us ask the most holy Virgin to teach us to pronounce the Name of Jesus with the same tenderness and confidence as she did.
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