23 May 2020 - in the name of

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Until now you have not asked anything in my name

The name of Jesus is not merely a magic word we can append to our prayers to make them work. Yet his name is meant to define and shape our prayer.

for by, in My name, must be understood not the mere sound of the letters or syllables, but that which is rightly and truly signified by that sound. 

- Saint Augustine 

The name of Jesus includes the revelation of the Father. Jesus is the Son for whose sake the Father loves us. He is the one who came forth from the Father and who returned to the Father. To ask in the name of Jesus means to ask as Jesus himself would ask. It means that whatever we have asked for until know cannot count as "anything" because it is too temporary and too little. Jesus alone knows the fullness of complete joy that can be found in the Father. Yet he makes it known to us as well, insofar as we are willing to receive it. He himself is the way by which we become daughters and sons who therefore share his joy as our inheritance. In his name our prayers can come forth from the Father, grounded in in our confident love of him, love and return to the Father, by asking for the goodness he longs to give.

ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.

Jesus has so many promises for those who believe in him. And yet we still regard his ways as obligations. If we occasionally encounter joy it is more as something incidental along the path of keeping such obligations. Most of us only very occasionally convince ourselves to seek him as if he truly is our greatest good.

I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly (see John 10:10).

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (see Matthew 11:28).

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you (see John 14:27).

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field (see Matthew 13:44).

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (see Romans 14:17).

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (see Philippians 4:7).

These are just a small sampling of the promises of peace, joy, rest, and life to the full that the Scriptures contain. To seek these is not selfish when we seek them as Jesus sought them. Just as Jesus was willing to do his Father's will, even unto the cross, for the sake of the joy set before him (see Hebrews 12:2), so too must we be willing. Do we have crosses to bear? Of course we do. But Jesus asks us to bear them in his name.  This is not meant to be a meaningless abstraction, but something that is actually transformational.

The ultimate prayer is the name of Jesus is the Mass. Within it we are united to Jesus in one perfect offering of praise to the Father. Because we ourselves are contained in the body offered, our sufferings and failures are transformed into something acceptable to the Father. Our deepest longings and desires are realized. Every other prayer we pray in the name of Jesus is subsumed into this great and irresistable request to the Father.

Baptism in the name of the LORD Jesus is where we become sons and daughters in him. This is why even a good doctrinal understanding of "the Way of the Lord" and the ability to speak and teach "accurately about Jesus" is not enough. The Sacramental economy of the Church is meant to be essential.

He had been instructed in the Way of the Lord and,
with ardent spirit, spoke and taught accurately about Jesus,
although he knew only the baptism of John.

We are real people, individuals, who become sons and daughters of the Father. Praying in the name of Jesus is not meant to flatten our prayers into generic things to distant to us to be true desires. Praying in the name of Jesus should rather compel us to enlarge and hone our desires, seeking more and more after he who can alone fulfill them. It will therefore not neglect any aspect of our own lives that matters to us. These desires themselves will be taken up and transformed. We see in Apollos an example of desires being heightened and refined as he entered more and more into the mission and the name of Jesus.

He vigorously refuted the Jews in public,
establishing from the Scriptures that the Christ is Jesus.