By David Rodríguez and Monique Krawecki
May God grant you a blessed Feast of the Holy Name of JESUS (January 2).
“That in the Name of Jesus let every knee bow, of those that are in Heaven, on earth, and under the earth: and that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the Glory of God the Father!” (Philip 2: 10, 11) “O Lord our Lord: how admirable is Thy Name in the whole earth!” (Psalm 8:10)
– From the Introit of the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus
What Is in a Name?
The special connection between the Holy Name of Jesus[1] and His Holy Face was revealed by Our Lord to Sister Marie de St. Pierre, a Carmelite Nun in Tours, France in a series of revelations on the devotion to His Holy Face between 1843 and 1848. Our Lord wished reparation to be made for sins committed against the first three commandments, which offend God the most because they are sins committed directly against Him.
Just as a person’s face is directly associated with his name, and when we hear a person’s name, our mind immediately associates it with the image of that person’s face, a similar connection is made between the Holy Face of Jesus and His Holy Name.[2] Both His Holy Face and His Holy Name represent to mankind the same Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Word made flesh. When we see the Holy Face of Jesus, we immediately think of His Holy Name. When we say the Holy Name of Jesus, we immediately think of His Holy Face.
Let us recall that in the Old Testament, the name of a person is extremely important. It is not merely a word but it effectively represents the entire person. Thus, to believe in the Name of Jesus, means to believe in His Person – that He is God, that He was born of the Virgin Mary, that He suffered, was crucified, and died, that He rose from the dead, that the Mass is His Sacrifice, that His Real Presence is in the Blessed Sacrament, and that He will come again to judge all men. To pray in the Name of Jesus does not just mean to mouth those words, but it means to pray in His Person, that is, in accordance with His Father’s will and as a member of the Mystical Body of Christ united to all the other members of the Church Triumphant, Suffering and Militant. (Protestants grossly minimize and radically misunderstand the passages of Scripture which refer to the Holy Name of Jesus, such as John 1:12, 3:18, 4:13; Acts 2:38, 4:12; Romans 10:13; Philippians 2:9-11; 1 John 5:13.)
The Mystery of Christmas
Christmas is the special time of year when we commemorate the birth of Our Saviour in Bethlehem. We contemplate Him as an infant, lying in a manger in a poor stable. He is surrounded by Jesus and Mary, the angels, the shepherds, and the three kings. The Star of Bethlehem shines directly overhead.
Christmas is such a special feast that it has its own Octave. Liturgically, the first and last days of the Octave link the Holy Face of Jesus with His Holy Name. On the first day of Christmas, the world is shown the Holy Face of Jesus for the first time. On the last day, Jesus formally received His Holy Name at His circumcision. The Name of Jesus (which means ‘Savior’) was first announced by the Angel Gabriel. Yet it was St. Joseph, as His father on earth, who had to use his authority to obey God and give Jesus His Name.
As per ancient tradition, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Circumcision on the Octave-Day of the Nativity (January 1). The Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus is then kept on the first Sunday in January. However, if this first Sunday falls on January 1, 6 or 7 (as it does this year), the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus is celebrated on January 2.
Honor and Dishonor
We are all familiar with the concept of magnifying the name of one we wish to exalt or conversely of dishonoring the family name. This natural human concept extends to the Incarnate Word as well.
On January 21, 1847, Our Lord revealed to Sister Marie that not only are a person’s name and face always associated together, but both also reflect the person’s honor or dishonor. Jesus explained that when an honorable man is insulted, his facial expression reflects what he feels in his heart. His face may turn red with shame and embarrassment. His downcast face shows that he is suffering from the wicked words of his enemies, as if the insults struck the man directly on his face. Sister Marie understood that this is a faint example of what Our Lord endures when He is outraged by the blasphemies of sinners.
The opposite happens when this same honorable man is treated with dignity by his friends and supporters. When they honor him by speaking highly of his distinguished name, his great deeds, and his achievements, his face becomes transformed to reflect his joy and contentment at the words of his friends. By their praises, they not only remove the shame from his face, but they give him so much honor which surpasses the former shame he suffered, that his face becomes radiant with happiness in appreciation of the praises given him.
Our Lord informed Sister Marie de St. Pierre that blasphemies against His Holy Name were a violation of the Second Commandment that wounded His Holy Face tremendously. When a sinner blasphemes against the Holy Name of Jesus, Our Lord’s Name is dishonoured. His Sacred Heart is pained by the insult. His adorable Face reflects the wound as well. Jesus made the Carmelite nun understand that the blasphemy of a sinner actually “curses Him to His Face, attacks Him publicly”, … and wounds His Sacred and Divine Heart more grievously than all other sins.[3]
Golden Arrow of Reparation
To make reparation for these blasphemies against His Holy Name, Jesus gave Sister Marie a special prayer, which would atone for this crime by praising His Holy Name. Jesus said that this “Golden Arrow” prayer would have the power of delightfully ‘wounding’ Him, to heal those other wounds inflicted on Him by the malice of sinners. He asked for “Veronicas”[4] to venerate His Holy Face by saying this prayer. He said this prayer would not only repair the wounds caused to Our Lord by blasphemers, but it would also cause Jesus to send down “torrents of graces for the conversion of sinners”.
May the Most Holy, Most Sacred, Most Adorable, Most Mysterious and Unutterable Name of God be praised, blessed, loved, adored and glorified, in Heaven, on earth, and in the hells, by all God’s creatures, and by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Amen.
Jesus explained, that just as angels sing, “Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus” without ceasing, so did Our Lord wish His Holy Name to be continually glorified. He explained to Sister Marie that by saying this ‘Golden Arrow’ prayer daily, Sister Marie would not only honor His Holy Name, but that she would also be honoring His Sacred Heart as well as the Immaculate Heart of His holy Mother, for “these two hearts were continually being wounded for blasphemy.”[5]
Therefore, there is an intimate connection not only between the Holy Face of Jesus and His Holy Name, which reflect the sentiments of His Sacred Heart, but that mysterious and profound connection also extends to the mystery of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Both suffer unimaginably from the impious blasphemies of men. And Our Lord emphasized that the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary should never be separated.
The Fatima Connection
Herein we see the profound connection to Fatima. Devotees of Our Lady know the importance of reparation. The First Saturday devotion – which places great emphasis on reparation for blasphemies against Our Lady – is one of the two primary means by which God will bring about peace in the world. The other is of course the Consecration of Russia to Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart. Our Lady came at Fatima to help save countless souls from the evil wrought by the ‘errors of Russia.’ Yet Our Lord promised that devotion to His Holy Face would serve to defeat the enemies of the Church, including freemasons and communists.
The devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus in the Veil of Veronica makes reparation for sins committed against the first Three Commandments. These are also the Commandments which communists (and atheists) violate the most. They are the ones which Our Lord in particular warned Sister Marie de St. Pierre about. Likewise, these are the sins which Our Lady decried at LaSalette (1846). The Message of Fatima repeatedly insists upon (much) reparation and penance. By praying the Golden Arrow prayer, dictated by Our Lord, we make reparation for blasphemies against Our Lord’s Holy Name and also bring down graces for the conversion for poor sinners.
In this month of the Holy Name of Jesus (January), let us be reminded of the great need to make reparation to Our Lord for the terrible crime of blasphemy.
What You Can Do
The Fatima Center has a booklet called, The Revelations of the Holy Face of Jesus, by John Vennari, which explains the revelations of Our Lord to Sister Marie de St. Pierre. This booklet contains the “Golden Arrow” prayer dictated by Our Lord to repair the crime of blasphemy as well as other reparatory prayers. The Fatima Center also promotes the Holy Face Litany to make reparation for the profanation of Sundays and Holy Days, which are sins against the Third Commandment.
As we begin this new year, 2023, let us heartily promote devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus, encourage all Catholics to pray these prayers daily, and be actively engaged in this divinely revealed ‘Work of Reparation.’
“Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the nations: that we may give thanks to Thy Holy Name, and may glory in Thy praise”. (Psalm 105:47) “Thou, O Lord, our Father and our Redeemer: from Everlasting is Thy Name.” (Isaiah 63:16)
– From the Gradual of the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus
ENDNOTES:
[1] This devotion has been promulgated by many saints and popes, notably including St. Bernadine of Siena (+1444) and St. John Capistrano (+1456). The Holy Name has great power, especially to defeat the enemies of Christ’s Church.
[2] This connection between a person’s face and name logically imitates the connection between God’s Holy Face and His Name because human beings are made in the image and likeness of God.
[3] The Golden Arrow by Sister Mary of St. Peter, translated by Fr. Emeric Scallan (TAN, 2010), p. 113.
[4] Our Lord told Sister Saint-Pierre, “I seek Veronicas to wipe and honor My Divine Face which has few adorers.” She then explained that Our Lord made her understand that “all who would apply themselves to this Work of Reparation would thereby perform for Him the office of the pious Veronica.” See Abbe P. Janvier, The Life of Sister Saint-Pierre (John Murphy & Co, Baltimore, 1884), p. 225.
[5] The Golden Arrow, p. 115.