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| The decapitated Martyr St Denis has more to say as he reaches for his head. |
Father, hallowed be your name,
your Kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread
and forgive us our sins....
Saint Luke's short version of the Lord's Prayer begins with hallowing God's name. The Office of Readings recently led me to Ezekiel's severe reminder of God's purposes in saving us:
Thus says the Lord GOD: Not for your sake do I act, house of Israel, but for the sake of my holy name, which you desecrated among the nations to which you came. But I will show the holiness of my great name, desecrated among the nations, in whose midst you desecrated it. Then the nations shall know that I am the LORD... when through you I show my holiness before their very eyes.
"Not for your sake!" We kid ourselves when we suppose that the Lord, who created out of nothing an unimaginably enormous universe with mysteries and majesty beyond human conception, needs us; or owes us anything. As if...!
But he will not abide the desecration of his Name by his own Chosen People while he invites the entire human race to sing its praises. If the Lord restores our health and peace of mind through forgiveness and healing, it's for his own magnificent purposes. We were made to praise his name in the first place, and will know no satisfaction until we do so. Our self-aggrandizement is insufferable.
We pray that God's kingdom will come. A world where justice and mercy embrace in a perfectly balanced administration is also beyond human capacity. Our charities, businesses, and governments might act justly or mercifully but their administration of these mysteries is invariably self-serving and falls far short of God's standards. Neither socialism nor capitalism can build Utopia; there will never be peace in our time so long as we fail to hallow God's name.
And so the Lord teaches us to plead for forgiveness of our sins. The world may speak of character defects and cultural ways but the prophetic church must speak more frankly of sin; and we must name them for a society that pretends to take offense and refuses to listen.
But penance does not begin when I name anyone's sin; it begins when I own my sin and the crosses he gives me as he leads me to Calvary.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.