Embedded Files
It’s Day 360!!
“HALLOWED BE THY NAME”
So what does it mean to hallow God’s name?
Paragraph 2807 says, “The term ‘to hallow’ is to be understood here not primarily in its causative sense (only God hallows, makes holy), but above all in an evaluative sense: to recognize as holy, to treat in a holy way. And so, in adoration, this invocation is sometimes understood as praise and thanksgiving. But this petition is here taught to us by Jesus as an optative: a petition, a desire, and an expectation in which God and man are involved. Beginning with this first petition to our Father, we are immersed in the innermost mystery of his Godhead and the drama of the salvation of our humanity. Asking the Father that his name be made holy draws us into his plan of loving kindness for the fullness of time, ‘according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ,’ that we might ‘be holy and blameless before him in love.’”
“God, may your name be glorified, may your name be known, may your name be loved. May you be loved.”
We will also talk about the depth to which the holiness of God can be hallowed
The holiness of God can be KNOWN and LOVED and REVERED
Paragraph 2814 says, “The sanctification of his name among the nations depends inseparably on our life and our prayer: We ask God to hallow his name, which by its own holiness saves and makes holy all creation…It is this name that gives salvation to a lost world. But we ask that this name of God should be hallowed in us through our actions. For God’s name is blessed when we live well, but is blasphemed when we live wickedly. As the Apostle says: ‘The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.’ We ask then that, just as the name of God is holy, so we may obtain his holiness in our souls. When we say ‘hallowed be thy name,’ we ask that it should be hallowed in us who are in him; but also in others whom God’s grace still awaits, that we may obey the precept that obliges us to pray for everyone, even our enemies. That is why we do not say expressly ‘hallowed be thy name “in us,”’ for we ask that it be so in all men.”
Let’s pray!!
Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we praise you and glorify you. We actually do, and we ask, we pray that your name is hallowed, that your name is known, that your name is revered and loved above all other names. First of all, Lord God, we ask that we revere your name, that we glorify your name by our words and our actions, how we live, how we treat each other, how we pray. May we love your name, Lord God, above every other name. Let it be the sweetest name to our ears and the name that is a soothing balm to our hearts. Lord God, your name heals. Hallowed be your name. Your name revives. Lord God, hallowed be your name. Your name gives life. God, hallowed be your name. Your name reconciles. Lord God, hallowed be your name. Your name saves us from everlasting death and brings us to you. Lord, hallowed be your name. We make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen”
So there we have it!!
Are we making God’s name holy?
NOPE!!
We are RECOGNIZING God as holy
We are treating the name of God in a HOLY WAY
Paragraph 2807 says, “The term ‘to hallow’ is to be understood here not primarily in its causative sense (only God hallows, makes holy), but above all in an evaluative sense: to recognize as holy, to treat in a holy way. And so, in adoration, this invocation is sometimes understood as praise and thanksgiving. But this petition is here taught to us by Jesus as an optative: a petition, a desire, and an expectation in which God and man are involved. Beginning with this first petition to our Father, we are immersed in the innermost mystery of his Godhead and the drama of the salvation of our humanity. Asking the Father that his name be made holy draws us into his plan of loving kindness for the fullness of time, ‘according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ,’ that we might ‘be holy and blameless before him in love.’”
Paragraph 2808 says, “In the decisive moments of his economy God reveals his name, but he does so by accomplishing his work. This work, then, is realized for us and in us only if his name is hallowed by us and in us.”
God’s name and His work are so inextricably connected to each other
Paragraph 2810 says, “In the promise to Abraham and the oath that accompanied it, God commits himself but without disclosing his name. He begins to reveal it to Moses and makes it known clearly before the eyes of the whole people when he saves them from the Egyptians: ‘he has triumphed gloriously.’ From the covenant of Sinai onwards, this people is ‘his own’ and is to be a ‘holy )or “consecrated”: the same word is used for both in Hebrew) nation,’ because the name of God dwells in it.”
Paragraph 2811 says, “In spite of the holy Law that again and again their Holy God gives them-’You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy’-and although the Lord shows patience for the sake of his name, the people turn away from the Holy One of Israel and profane his name among the nations. For this reason the just ones of the old covenant, the poor survivors returned from exile, and the prophets burned with passion for the name.”
The name of Jesus is unique
Do you remember why?
Because the NAME of Jesus is also His PRESENCE
When we utter the name of Jesus, HE IS PRESENT
Jesus’ PRESENCE is His POWER
We know the name of God because what He has done
Paragraph 2812 says, “Finally, in Jesus the name of the Holy God is revealed and given to us, in the flesh, as Savior, revealed by what he is, by his word, and by his sacrifice. This is the heart of his priestly prayer: ‘Holy Father…for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth.’ Because he ‘sanctifies’ his own name, Jesus reveals to us the name of the Father. At the end of Christ’s Passover, the Father gives him the name that is above all names: ‘Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.’”
Remember this connection we are making
The point of saying that God’s name and His actions and works are inextricably connected
So the holy name of God in Jesus is fully revealed by what He said and by what He did
As Christians, that is what we are meant to do
It is a high call
It is a lot to ask
It is a lot to shoot for
BUT…
GOD MADE YOU FOR HIM!!
GOD MADE YOU FOR THAT!!
We are made to reveal HIM through OUR words and through OUR works
Obviously, we can fail at that
Paragraph 2813 says, “In the waters of Baptism, we have been ‘washed…sanctified…justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.’ Our Father calls us to holiness in the whole of our life, and since ‘he is the source of [our] life in CHrist Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and…sanctification,’ both his glory and our life depend on the hallowing of his name in us and by us. Such is the urgency of our first petition. By whom is God hallowed, since he is the one who hallows? But since he said, ‘You shall be holy to me; for I the Lord am holy,’ we seek and ask that we who were sanctified in Baptism may persevere in what we have begun to be. And we ask this daily, for we need sanctification daily, so that we who fail daily may cleanse away our sins by being sanctified continually…We pray that this sanctification may remain in us.”
We ask for sanctification daily
Why?
Because we NEED sanctification daily
We ask for mercy daily
Why?
Because we sin daily and NEED mercy daily
God’s name is either known or not known, depending on how we live and on how we pray
That is a tall order
AND YET…
Paragraph 2814 says, “The sanctification of his name among the nations depends inseparably on our life and our prayer: We ask God to hallow his name, which by its own holiness saves and makes holy all creation…It is this name that gives salvation to a lost world. But we ask that this name of God should be hallowed in us through our actions. For God’s name is blessed when we live well, but is blasphemed when we live wickedly. As the Apostle says: ‘The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.’ We ask then that, just as the name of God is holy, so we may obtain his holiness in our souls. When we say ‘hallowed be thy name,’ we ask that it should be hallowed in us who are in him; but also in others whom God’s grace still awaits, that we may obey the precept that obliges us to pray for everyone, even our enemies. That is why we do not say expressly ‘hallowed be thy name “in us,”’ for we ask that it be so in all men.”
We must always pray that God’s name is known, is loved, is glorified, and is hallowed
BUT…
It is only going to be hallowed if we live well and pray well
Yes, we are broken
We are broken AND YET we are loved
We are broken AND YET we are blessed
We have wandered away AND YET we are wanted
We are lost AND YET we are loved
We struggle AND YET He strives after us
If YOU are fallen, let yourself be caught
If you have wandered away, let the Divine Hunter hunt you down
If you have started away from the rest of the flock, let the Good Shepherd seek after you and find you
Let Him find you
Let Him catch you
Let Him rescue you
We have 5 more days left
What steps are YOU going to take on that sixth day to continue to walk in the Lord?
What are you going to do?
How are you going to let the Lord continually hunt you down and bring you home?
We want God’s name to be known by how we live and how we pray
Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!
Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!
Soon…
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse