SacredSpace102fm : 26th June 2016 - The Holy Name of Jesus

25 Jun 2016

26th June 2016 - The Holy Name of Jesus - 13th Sunday in Ordinary time Year C

We have a full team on SS102fm this week with John, Lorraine, Anne and Shane all back on air! Lorraine takes us through a reflection on the Holy Name of Jesus and we have our regular reflection on the Sunday gospel as well as liturgical odds and ends including our weekly celestial guides.

You can listen to the podcast of this weeks programme HERE.

The Holy Name of Jesus

Lorraine leads us in a reflection this week on the Holy Name of Jesus. You can listen to the podcast of the reflection excerpted from the main programme HERE.

To pray the holy name of Jesus is a very simple way of praying always. There is power in a name and it calls up the very presence of Jesus. Nowadays it is profaned in so many ways, that it is very pleasing to the Lord when it is used with love and devotion. We are told that "all beings in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld, should bend the knee at the name of Jesus and that every tongue should acclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, to the glory of God the Father". So, not only is it a very intimate way of praying and being in the presence of the Lord, it is also very powerful, because it has authority, both in Heaven, on earth and in the underworld.

Poor Clare's - Galway - webpage on the Holy Name
Fisheaters - Devotion to the Holy Name
Apostleship of Prayer - The Name, the Heart, and the Blood

Gospel - Luke 9:51-62

Reflection from Limerick Diocesan Weekly Newsletter:

I will follow you anywhere ...
but just let me just pop home for a moment first ...

This Sundays Gospel concerns Jesus 'resolutely' on the road to Jerusalem. We hear that he meets lots of people who think he is interesting, inspiring - worth following even. These people deeply mean their words ... until action is required. Then commitments and questions arise. A weaker man might be slowed in his journey to reason or argue with each point. Jesus does not slow - he is resolute.

You and I are followers of Jesus Christ who want to live our lives according to his teaching. We are committed, inspired and determined ... but don't we all seem to have 'special circumstances' where being a Christian doesn't apply!!

- perhaps we have special reasons for not praying or going to Sunday Mass, we just have to do something else first...
- perhaps we have special reasons for ignoring the call to justice, mercy and compassion for the vulnerable ... we just have to secure our own place in the world first...
- perhaps we have special reasons for disrespecting our neighbour, or family or friends ...

The truth is that there are no special reasons to put off being a follower of Jesus: we either are or we are not. The wonderful thing is that we are not trapped by the past - at every moment we can choose again to follow Jesus. In this time, in these circumstances we can ask for the grace to take one step on the road to Jerusalem, and another ...

'We know the whole law is summed up
in the single commandment
to love our neighbour as ourselves.
Yet we create fences around ourselves to keep neighbours outside
and tell ourselves we have no responsibility.
Even in our own back yard we “bite and devour” one another.

We wish it were different.
When Jesus calls us to follow him,
we find every excuse to instead go home
or to the workplace to finish something more important first.
Yet we yearn to be more centred on You.

Despite our resistance,
we can be assured that God’s strong arm redeems the people.
God calls us back to God’s realm, and encourages us
with a love we can never lose no matter how hard we push back,
no matter how often we forget, no matter how far we stray.
We need but ask and we are forgiven.'