The Holy Name of Jesus, Saint Bernadine of Siena, IHS

Friends, today we keep the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. This past weekend, we celebrated the Solemnity of the Epiphany of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles, and the Star of Bethlehem shining directly and brightly on the child in the Manger, Whose Holy Name we revere today.

*We were not be able to stream our Rosary and Mass today, Monday, January 3, 2022.  We apologize for this disruption to your prayer life, and thank you for your patience, as we have the text of the Homily prepared here for you today.

The light of Christ also shines on His mother Mary, and on Joseph. And on the humble shepherds, and finally on the Magi - the Wise Men who came from the east to prostrate themselves in homage before the newborn Savior. They opened their hearts, and their treasure chests, handing over their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

All of this came about because they followed the star that led them to this spot.

In addition to the name of Jesus today, I hold up another name: Georges Henri Joseph Edouard Lemaitre.

Lemaitre was a Belgian Catholic priest, a theoretical physicist, a mathematician, an astronomer, and a professor of physics at the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium.

In 1931 Lemaitre proposed The Big Bang Theory to explain what happened when the Creator, when God, brought into existence the material world around us, including the billions of stars in the various galaxies too numerous to count.

When the Great Albert Einstein heard of The Big Bang Theory he humbly acknowledged that he must now adjust his theories to this new reality. Father Lemaitre's Big Bang theory is an amazing, exquisite way to explain how the creation began and continues today.

On Christmas Day, Nasa launched from French Guiana, a rocket ship that that catapulted into space the James Webb Space Telescope. It will travel millions of light years into the distant past and shed light on not only the millions of stars and galaxies in the universe, but on what the hand of God has done and continues to do in our own day.

So, the light, the star of Bethlehem, is not just something from the past.

It is a present reality. It is so exciting to follow that Space Telescope, as it moves into the immense deep darkness of space. It is reaching back millions of years.

If you look up at the stars at night, the stars that you see shining brightly in the distance, not our planets, but the distant stars, most of them are no longer there. We are seeing images of stars that existed long ago but have ceased to exist. The light from those stars is still traveling towards us. What we see is something from the ancient past. It's awesome and it's a great incredible reality of our present age.

When the star of Bethlehem led the Wise men to Bethlehem, to the child in the Manger, there were three reactions.

The first reaction was from Herod and his gang. And their response was to destroy and eliminate the child. They acted out of fear. especially Herod, and most of Jerusalem with him.

The second reaction was that of the scribes and Pharisees who responded by ignoring the child in the manger, the promised Messiah and Savior. So many in our culture today do the same.

Finally, there is the third crowd, the humble shepherds and the Magi, who responded with awe and adoration.

They came and worshipped Him, prostrating themselves and doing Him homage. They opened their hearts and gifts to Him, offering Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh. The gold of their love, the incense of their worship, and the myrrh of their humble hearts.

Let’s make sure we are in the third group, giving honor today to the Holy Name of Jesus. 

In this New Year, let us all strive to follow the star that leads to Jesus.

Amen.

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