Little Sunday school children learn quickly that the answer to most of the teacher’s questions is “Jesus.” So when a child is daydreaming in class and the teacher suddenly calls on her, she knows that 90% of the time, the answer the teacher is looking for is “Jesus.”
Would that we adults learn from the children, that 90% of the time the answer to our own dilemmas is “Jesus.” Why is it that he seems to be the last resort for us when we are struggling with problems bigger than we can handle?
Today we celebrate the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. There was a time in which the Church named January 1 as the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. Our reading Sunday was that of the circumcision and naming of Jesus, an event that took place a week after his birth. It is fitting that we begin every new year with proclaiming the name of Jesus, the One who continues to be the answer to most of our questions.
Isn’t the entire Bible summarized in the name Jesus—meaning “the Lord saves.” Isn’t the quest of our entire life the need to be saved from our fallen condition? And don’t we profess that Jesus alone is “the way, the truth, and the life.” He is our way back to the Father who leads us from our exiled condition back home to be with him for all eternity.
Regarding his holy name we read (Philippians 2:10-11):
“…at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Though the world we live in seems without direction, we know that God has a working plan for us. He is, little by little, putting everyone and everything under the footstool of his Son. A day will come when everyone in heaven on earth will proclaim the one truth that “Jesus Christ is Lord.” We, as believers, have already begun to live out this truth.
St. Bernard of Clairvaux once wrote:
Jesus, the very thought of thee with sweetness fills my breast
But sweeter far thy face to see and in thy presence rest.
No voice can sing, nor heart can frame, nor can the memory find
A sweeter sound than thy blest Name, O Savior of mankind!
In the early years of Christianity people were advised by holy hermits to say the Jesus prayer up to a thousand times a day or more if they wanted to grow in holiness. The familiar “Jesus beads” were invented as a tool to remind a person to continue to utter the Jesus prayer and to help them concentrate on what they were saying. In recent times the Jesus prayer and Jesus beads have come again to the forefront in the Church. Many young people, in particular, are living out the advice of the holy hermits and reciting throughout the day, “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me a sinner.” If we practice this habit each day of our lives, on our deathbeds we will find ourselves continuing to say this prayer as we prepare for Jesus to come and call us into glory.
What if this became our new year’s resolution—to make saying the “Jesus prayer” a central part of our daily lives. Imagine the change that will have taken place in us “365” days from now.
Let us learn from the children, that the simple answer to everything is “Jesus!”
