At the name of Jesus every knee should bend of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should proclaim to the glory of God the Father: Jesus Christ is Lord! (Philippians 2:10-11)
January 1st is the Octave of Christmas aka the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. The Gospel for the Solemnity concludes with Luke 2.21, “On the eighth day, when the time for the child’s circumcision had arrived, he was given the name Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived in the womb.”Which is why January 1st is also known as the Feast of the Circumcision. The traditional Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus falls two days later January 3rd. In fact, the whole month of January is dedicated to His Name.
Biblical Origins
The Holy Name is often discussed in the Bible, including in Matthew 1.21, where an angel tells Joseph what to name Mary’s Child: “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins”.
The name Jesus comes from the Hebrew Yeshua, which is a shortened version of Yehoshua and is made up of two parts: A version of the Tetragrammaton, the four-letter name of God (YHWH) and a Hebrew verb that means to “deliver,” or “save.” So, Jesus literally means “God saves.”
The Church teaches that the Holy Name of Jesus is a powerful prayer. Our Lord himself solemnly promises that whatever we ask the Father in His name we will receive (Cf. John 14.13) and St. Paul tells us: “Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3.17).
When we say “Jesus,” we can ask God for all we need with absolute confidence of being heard. Which is why the Church ends her liturgical prayers with the words, “through Jesus Christ our Lord… Amen.”
Medieval Devotion
In the Introduction to a collection of medieval English prayers by Richard Rolle called A Book of the Love of Jesus, Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson writes: [The] medieval English familiarity with the Savior is especially illustrated by the history of the Feast of the Holy Name; for the loving use of a personal name is the sign of personal intimacy.
This was an authorized Festival in England by the middle of the fifteenth century, under the title of “The Most Sweet Name Jesu,” and was sanctioned and indulgenced by Pope Alexander VI at the beginning of the sixteenth century, although it was not accepted into the Roman Calendar until the eighteenth century. Without doubt, then, this was a widely popular devotion in England — (and this is evidenced by Rolle’s writings even in this small selection) long before it had gained anywhere else.
I might mention that in the 1400s, the Franciscan Saint Bernardine of Siena, and his disciples, spread devotion to the Name of Jesus, and a century later, around 1530, Pope Clement VII granted the Franciscan order authorization for the celebration of the Divine Office of the Holy Name of Jesus.
Even earlier, in the 13th century, when great evils threatened Christendom, Pope Gregory X called the Council of Lyons (1274) to determine the best means of saving society from ruin. After much consideration, the Pope and Bishops chose what they believed to be the easiest and most efficacious way of all: the frequent repetition of the Holy Name of Jesus.
But medieval devotion to the Holy Name goes back at least to the great 12th century Cistercian, St. Bernard of Clairvaux. Here is an example of “The Mellifluous Doctor’s” preaching on the Holy Name of Jesus:
The sweet Name of Jesus produces in us holy thoughts, fills the soul with noble sentiments, strengthens virtue, begets good works, and nourishes pure affections. All spiritual food leaves the soul dry, if it contains not that penetrating oil, the Name Jesus… Jesus to me is honey in the mouth, light in the eyes, a flame in our heart. This name is the cure for all diseases of the soul.
Are you troubled? Think but of Jesus, speak but the Name of Jesus, the clouds disperse, and peace descends anew from heaven. Have you fallen into sin? So that you fear death? Invoke the Name of Jesus, and you will soon feel life returning. No obstinacy of the soul, no weakness, no coldness of heart can resist this holy Name; there is no heart which will not soften and open in tears at this holy Name. Are you surrounded by sorrow and danger? Invoke the Name of Jesus, and your fears will vanish.
Never yet was a person in urgent need, and on the point of perishing, who invoked this help-giving Name, and was not powerfully sustained. It was given us for the cure of all our ills; to soften the impetuosity of anger, to quench the fire of concupiscence, to conquer pride, to mitigate the pain of our wounds, to overcome the thirst of avarice, to quiet sensual passions, and the desires of low pleasures. If we call to our minds the Name of Jesus, it brings before us His most meek and humble heart and gives us a new knowledge of His most loving and tender compassion.
The Name of Jesus is the purest and holiest, the noblest and most indulgent of names, the Name of all blessings and of all virtues; it is the Name of the God-Man, of sanctity itself. To think of Jesus is to think of the great, infinite God Who, having given us His life as an example, has also bestowed the necessary understanding, energy and assistance to enable us to follow and imitate Him, in our thoughts, inclinations, words and actions.
If the Name of Jesus reaches the depths of our heart, it leaves heavenly virtue there.
St. Bernard’s words are as true today as in the Middles Ages. We should therefore confidently invoke the Holy Name of Jesus in all our necessities, because, as it says in Acts 4.12, “There is no salvation in anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to men by which we can be saved.”
And that’s no nonsense.