Invoking Jesus’ name

Luke 18:35–43. November 14, 2022 - Monday, 33rd Week

It said that when St. Francis Xavier was dying on Shangchuan island, he was praying the prayer of the blind beggar from Jericho: “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!”. In the Orthodox tradition this prayer has developed into a longer version that expresses our faith who Jesus is and why he came into this world: “Jesus, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner”.

There is a story about a French man who came to Mount Athos in Greece to learn how to pray. The monks thought him how to meditate in front of the mountain, by the seaside, and inside their hen house. The mountain taught him stability, from the sea he learned about inner peace, and inside the hen house, he learned how to pray amid the noise. Then, he was told to read the story of Abraham interceding for Sodom and Gomorrah. Tears were flowing from his eyes when he prayed for Paris and other cities in the world. Finally, the monks thought him how to pray Jesus’ prayer. With each breath in he pronounced “Jesus, Son of the Living God,” and with each breath out, “have mercy on me, a sinner”. When he returned to France he was a different man.

We pray to Christ every day either during our liturgical celebration or in our private prayer. We address our Lord using many titles: the Son of God, Lord and Savior, Lamb of God, Son of the Virgin, Good Shepherd, our Way, Life, and resurrection. But as our Catechism teaches us, “the one name that contains everything is the one that the Son of God received in his incarnation: JESUS”. We all know the meaning of Jesus’ name: “God saves”. But we seldom realise what our Catechism tries to impart to us. “The name "Jesus" contains all: God and man and the whole economy of creation and salvation. To pray "Jesus" is to invoke him and to call him within us. His name is the only one that contains the presence it signifies. Jesus is the Risen One, and whoever invokes the name of Jesus is welcoming the Son of God who loved him and who gave himself up for him” (CCC, 2666).

Then, the Catechism in this way encourages us to pray. “The invocation of the holy name of Jesus is the simplest way of praying always. When the holy name is repeated often by a humbly attentive heart, the prayer is not lost by heaping up empty phrases, but holds fast to the word and "brings forth fruit with patience." This prayer is possible "at all times" because it is not one occupation among others but the only occupation: that of loving God, which animates and transfigures every action in Christ Jesus” (CCC, 2668).

So, do you pray to invoke Jesus’ name? And if not, why not do it now? “Jesus, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner”.