THe Holy Name of Jesus

Last night as I was poking around the Internet, I learned that January is dedicated to the Holy Name of Jesus. I looked around a little more this morning, and discovered that January 3 was declared by Pope John Paul II to be the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, and that the Church dedicates the month of January to this devotion. Now, I know very little about devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus; other than a few factoids about things like the Chi-Ro symbol (the Greek letters that come at the beginning and the end of the Greek word for Christ) and "IHS" being a monogram of "Jesus Christ"; plus the fact that the third commandment (Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain) compels us to keep the name of Jesus holy. This got me thinking: Wouldn't it be great if every Christian (doesn't matter if you're Catholic, Protestant, or any denomination) made a commitment to invoke the name of Jesus OUT LOUD to at least one person every day this month? Now, I know many of us use Jesus' name in not-so-nice ways all too often; of course what I'm talking about is mentioning him in conversation in a loving way. I'm thinking if we made a conscious effort to make Jesus a part of our everyday speech, it would become habit. We could start in our own families; or if we're already used to talking about Jesus at home, try mentioning Jesus to close friends and then go from there. Of course, by putting this idea out there it means that I should make an effort to do this; I can consider it a New Year's Resolution of sorts, and maybe even ask Our Lady for the courage to try. (Check out this article about how Mary can help us make good resolutions, and how she can help us keep them.)

Hopefully I'll be able to learn a little bit more about the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, and the history behind the devotion; meanwhile, I'd like to ask for your prayers to help me give this little gift to Our Lord and to challenge you to do the same. Praise the Holy Name of Jesus!