The Holy Name of Jesus ~ as we continue celebrating Christmas!

 

A holy Feast Day to you all! How special is this day, how grave, in Latin Christendom, as we contemplate the Faith of the Apostles, "...there is no name under Heaven by which we are saved, but that of Christ Jesus" (Acts:4:12) and that this same Faith was "once for all handed down to the saints" (Jude 1:3). This teaching may seem to modern man, a hard teaching, but it is the Faith of the Apostles. To reject it is to break with the Apostles, the Church: to break with Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no man comes to the Father but my Me" (John 14:6). 

This teaching means that every man is called to salvation, for "God wishes all men be saved" (1 Tim 2:4).  St. John Chrysostom explains this verse this way: "Fear not therefore to pray for the Gentiles, for God Himself wills it; but fear only to pray against any, for that He wills not. And if you pray for the Heathens, you ought of course to pray for Heretics also, for we are to pray for all men, and not to persecute. And this is good also for another reason, as we are partakers of the same nature, and God commands and accepts benevolence and affection towards one another".

Some might ask: does this mean all Jews, Moslems, pagans, even atheists are eternally damned? It does not. For God pours out His graces on all men, even those who resist Him. What it does mean is that if a man knowingly rejects Jesus Christ out of malice, he cannot be saved. But let us tremble, for where does that place the apostate Catholic who once DID proclaim the Holy Name of Jesus? Surely at the forefront of the damned.  St. John Chrysostom even challenges Catholics to the knowledge that they will be damned even if they profess the doctrine. The holy Patriarch wrote: 

For of what advantage is it to be godly as to doctrine, but ungodly in life? And that it is very possible to be ungodly in life, hear this same blessed Apostle saying elsewhere, They profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him. Titus 1:16 And again, He has denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. 1 Timothy 5:8 And, If any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater 1 Corinthians 5:11, such a man honours not God.

Let us honour and love the Holy Name of Jesus in our hearts and actions, for as St. James warned us: "faith without good works is dead" (2:14). Let us therefore in word and deed manifest our Catholic Faith so that the blind Jews, the disbelieving Moslems, the deluded pagans, the scoffing atheists will come to the foot of the Cross and allow the outpouring of salvific grace overflow into their lives and souls.

Tragically those who follow the modern sectarian rites will not be celebrating with us the Holy Name of Jesus. In fact, I was even unaware that the modernists had declared today the "Epiphany" until I noticed that the Anglicans were "celebrating" Epiphany. My curiosity raised, I checked the modern sectarian rite, and lo and behold, there it was! Dear Catholic friends, pray, as St. John Chrysostom begs us, to pray for all men - especially heretics and apostates - and how much these cowardly bishops, wayward Romans need our prayers! - to abandon their errors and return to the unchangeable Faith delivered once and for all time to the saints.