The Name of Jesus is light of predicators, because it is His shining splendor that makes His word be announced and heard. Why do you believe that faith spread so quickly and with such force throughout the world, if not other than by the name of Jesus? Has it not been through this light and the pleasure of this name that God called us to His marvelous light? Illuminated all and seeing the light within this light, the Apostle can tell us: in another time you were shadows, but now you are light in the Lord; walk like children of light.

It is most necessary to predicate this name so that it shines and that it not remain hidden. Yet it must not be predicated with an impure heart of a stained mouth; rather it must be guarded and exposed in a chosen vessel.

That is why our Lord said of Saint Paul: He is a vessel chosen by Me so as to make known My name to the peoples, kings and Israelites. A vessel - He says - chosen by me, like those chosen vessels that are placed on sale with a beverage of agreeable taste, so that the brilliance and splendor of the receptable invite one to drink from her: this is so as to make known - He says - My Name.

When a fire is lit to clear a field, it burns off all the dry and useless weeds and thorns. When the sun rises and darkness is dispelled, robbers, night-prowlers and burglars run away. So when Pauls voice was raised to preach the Gospel to the nations, like a great clap of thunder in the sky, or a sudden roaring fire, or the sun which suddenly shines with greater clarity, consuming all incredulity, the truth shone through and the error dissapeared like the wax that melts in the fire.

Saint Paul spoke the name of Jesus in his letters, his miracles and examples. He praised and blessed the name of Jesus.

The Apostle carried this Name, like a light, to the peoples, the kings and the Israelites, and with Him he illuminated the nations, proclaiming those words: the night is advancing, the day is at hand: let us leave behind the activities of darkness and equip ourselves with the weapons of the Light. Conduct ourselves honorably as in the day, with dignity. Paul himself showed the burning and shining light that burns and enlightens upon a candlestick, everywhere proclaiming Jesus, and Him crucified.

For this reason the Church, the bride of Christ, strengthened by his testimony, rejoices with the psalmist, proclaiming: O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I proclaim until this day your wondrous deeds. In other words, the psalmist exhorts her to do this in this way: Sing to the Lord, bless His Name; proclaim day after day His salvation. This is to say, Jesus, The Savior whom He has sent.


Prayer

Lord God, who infused in the heart of Saint Bernardine of Siena an admirable love for the Name of Jesus, grant us, through his intercession and his merits, to live always propelled and inspired by the spirit of Your love. Through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

"Every grace granted to man has three degrees of order, for by God it is communicated to Christ, from Christ it passes to the Virgin, and from the Virgin it descends to us."