Some Christmastide Feasts
The Holy Name of Jesus
The Feast of the Holy Name
Chaplet of the Holy Name of Jesus

Some Christmastide Feasts: Traditional Calendar

December 25, 2003: The Nativity of Our Lord
December 26: St. Stephen, First Martyr
December 27: St. John the Apostle
December 28: The Holy Innocents
December 30: Feast of the Holy Family
December 31: St. Sylvester I, Pope
January 1, 2004: The Circumcision of Our Lord
January 4: The Holy Name of Jesus, see above.
January 6: The Epiphany

The Holy Name of Jesus
 

WHAT DOES THE NAME OF JESUS MEAN? See Also HERE.

The name Jesus comes from the Greek Iesous which was derived from the Aramaic, Yeshu. It means "Yaweh is salvation." The name was not unique, even in Biblical times, and today it is common in Arabic-speaking East and in Spanish-speaking countries. From Apostolic times the name has been treated with the greatest respect, as honor is due the name which represents Our Lord, Himself. Among the Jews, a male child received his name on the day of his circumcision.

The Holy Name of Jesus is, first of all, an all-powerful prayer. Our Lord Himself solemnly promises that whatever we ask the Father in His Name we shall receive. God never fails to keep His word.

When, therefore, we say, "Jesus," let us ask God for all we need with absolute confidence of being heard.  For this reason, the Church ends her prayer with the words, "through Jesus Christ," which gives the prayer a new and Divine efficacy.

But the Holy Name is something still greater.

Each time we say, "Jesus," we give God infinite joy and glory, for we offer Him all the infinite merits of the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ.  St. Paul tells us that Jesus merited the Name Jesus by His Passion and Death.

Each time we say "Jesus," let us clearly wish to offer God all the Masses being said all over the world for all our intentions. We thus share in these thousands of Masses.

Each time we say "Jesus," we gain indulgences for the Holy Souls in Purgatory, thus relieving and liberating very many of these holy souls from their awful pains. Thus they may be our best friends and pray for us --- they cannot pray for themselves, however.

Each time we say "Jesus," it is an act of perfect love, for we offer to God the infinite love of Jesus.

The Holy Name of Jesus saves us from innumerable evils and delivers us especially from the power of the devil, who is constantly seeking to do us harm.

The Holy Name of Jesus gradually fills our souls with a peace and joy we never had before.

The Holy Name of Jesus gives us strength that our sufferings become light
and easy to bear.

Each time we say or hear the Name of Jesus, we ought to bow our head in reverence.
 

THE DEVIL AND THE NAME OF JESUS

The great, great evil, the great danger that threatens each of us every day and every night of our lives, is the devil.  St. Peter and St. Paul warn us in the strongest  language to beware of the devil, for he is using all his tremendous power, his mighty intelligence to ruin us, to harm and hurt us in every way.  There is no danger, no enemy in the world we have to fear as we have to fear the devil.

Our best and easiest remedy is the Name of Jesus.  It drives the devil flying from our sides and saves us from countless evils.  Say the Holy Name of Jesus in all dangers and temptations.

Priests should preach frequently on this, teachers, catechists, mothers and fathers should constantly warn their children against the devil and teach them the practice of devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus.
 

In the 13th-century, Blessed John of Vercelli, the Dominican Master General received instructions from Pope Gregory at the Council of Lyons, to promote greater reverence to the Holy Name of Jesus. Two Franciscan Saints, Bernardine of Siena and John Capistran, promoted devotion to the Holy Name with the result that a Feast in honor of the Holy Name of Jesus became universal in 1721.

FEAST OF THE HOLY NAME

This feast is the central feast of all the mysteries of Christ the Redeemer; it unites all the other feasts of the Lord, as a burning glass focuses the rays of the sun in one point, to show what Jesus is to us, what He has done, is doing, and will do for mankind. It originated towards the end of the fifteenth century, and was instituted by the private authority of some bishops in Germany, Scotland, England, Spain, and Belgium. The Office and the Mass composed by Bernardine dei Busti (d. 1500) were approved by Sixtus IV. The feast was officially granted to the Franciscans 25 February, 1530, and spread over a great part of the Church. The Franciscans, Carmelites, and Augustinians kept it on 14 Jan.; the Dominicans 15 Jan. At Salisbury, York, and Durham in England, and at Aberdeen in Scotland it was celebrated 7 Aug., at Liege, 31 Jan., at Compostela and Cambrai, 8 Jan. [Grotefend, "Zeitrechnung", II, 2. 89]. The Carthusians obtained it for the second Sunday after Epiphany about 1643; for that Sunday it was also extended to Spain, and later, 20 Dec., 1721, to the Universal Church. The Office used at present is nearly identical with the Office of Bernardine dei Busti. The hymns "Jesu dulcis memoria," "Jesu Rex admirabilis," "Jesu decus angelicum," usually ascribed to St. Bernard, are fragments of a very extensive "jubilus" or "cursus de aeterna sapientia" of some unknown author in the thirteenth century. For the beautiful sequence "Dulcis Jesus Nazarenus" [Morel, "Hymnen des Mittelalters," 67] of Bernardine dei Busti the Franciscans substituted a prose sequence of modern origin: "Lauda Sion Salvatoris;" they still celebrate the Feast on 14 January. 


Chaplet of the Holy Name of Jesus with Litany, Click HERE. Please note that the above page is not part of the Christmas Directory, but is a permanent page in the Litanies Directory --- just hit your browser's back button.