The Golden Arrow

The church has dedicated the month of January to the Most Holy Name of Jesus.

The Golden Arrow

This prayer was revealed by Jesus Himself to a Carmelite Nun of Tours in 1843 as a reparation for blasphemy. "This Golden Arrow will wound My Heart delightfully," He said, "and heal the wounds inflicted by blasphemy."

May the most holy, most sacred, most adorable, most mysterious and  unutterable Name of God be always praised, blessed, loved, adored and glorified

in heaven on earth and under the earth, by all the creatures of God, and by the Sacred Heart of our Lord Jesus Christ in the most Holy Sacrament of the altar.

Richard Rolle, a Holy hermit and mystic of the fourteenth century, taught about the name of Jesus: "If you will be well with God, and have grace to rule your life, and come to the joy of love: this name Jesus, fasten it so fast in your heart that it come never out of your thought. And when you speak to him, and through custom say, "Jesus", it may be in your ear, joy;

in your mouth, honey; and in your heart, melody: for men shall think joy to hear that name be named, sweetness to speak it, mirth and song to think it. If you think the name "Jesus" continually, and hold it firmly, it purges your sin, and kindles your heart; it clarifies your soul, it removes anger, and does away slowness. It wounds in love, and fulfills charity. It chases the devil and puts out dread. It opens heaven and makes a contemplative man. Have Jesus in mind, for that puts all vices and phantoms out of the lover."

O, Jesus be to me a help and protector so that your Name may be blessed for all times.

Thomas K. Kempis

In the liturgical revisions of Vatican II, the feast was deleted. Pope John Paul II reinstituted the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus to be celebrated on Jan. 3. Moreover, the reverential invocation of the Holy Name of Jesus as part of prayer or work, and the recitation of the Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus, still convey a partial indulgence for the reparation of the sins of profanity and blasphemy against the Holy Name. The entire month of January is devoted to the worship of the Holy Name and to Christ's Divine Childhood. 

                                               

St. John Capistran

St. Bernardine

The greatest promoters of the monogram were St. Bernardine of Siena and St. John Capistran. They carried with them on their missions in the turbulent cities of Italy a copy of the monogram of the Holy Name, surrounded by rays, painted on a wooden tablet, wherewith they blessed the sick and wrought great miracles. At the close of their sermons they exhibited this emblem to the faithful and asked them to prostrate themselves, to adore the Redeemer of mankind. They recommended their hearers to have the monogram of Jesus placed over the gates of their cities and above the doors of their dwelling. It became even more popularized after St. Bernardine encouraged a playing card maker in Bologna -- a man whose business had been ruined because of the Saint's preaching against gambling -- to make holy cards depicting it instead of making his usual fare. Because the manner in which St. Bernardine preached this devotion was new, he was accused by his enemies, and brought before the tribunal of Pope Martin V. But St. John Capistran defended his master so successfully that the pope not only permitted the worship of the Holy Name, but also assisted at a procession in which the holy monogram was carried. The tablet used by St. Bernardine is venerated at Santa Maria in Ara Coeli at Rome.                          

The Monogram

Blessed Henry Suso

Faith in Jesus and in the power of His Holy Name is the greatest spiritual force in the world today. It is a source of joy and inspiration in our youth; of strength in our manhood, when only His Holy Name and His grace can enable us to overcome temptation; of hope, consolation, and confidence at the hour of our death, when more than ever before, we realize that the meaning of Jesus is "Lord, the Savior." We should bow in reverence to His Name and submission to His Holy Will. --

Blessed Henry Suso

"And you shall call His name Jesus, because in His Name we adore the entire majesty of the Godhead.  All who dwell in the heavens, those who abide upon the earth, and every one of those who are held in the depths of hell, bow down prostate to this Name.  This is the Name which gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, agility to the lame, speech to the mute, and life to the dead; the power of this Name forced the mastery of the devil entirely from the bodies of the possessed." –St. Peter Chrysologus 

"The incessant invocation of God's name," is a medicine which mortifies not just the passions, but even their influence. Just as the physician puts medications or dressings on a wound that it might be healed, without the patient even knowing the manner of their operation, so also the name of God, when we invoke it, mortifies all passions, though we do not know how that happens"

Barsanuphius the Great

St. Peter, the first dominican Martyr (d. 1252); John of Vercelli, a contemporary of St. Dominic; Blessed Ambrose of Siena (d. 1286) are said to have been great propagators of the devotion. In the fourteenth century Blessed Henry Suso (d. 1365) is the most notable apostle of devotion to the Holy Name.

St. Bernard of Clairvaux

“Nothing so curbs the onset of anger, so allays the upsurge of pride. It cures the wound of envy, controls unbridled extravagance, and quenches the flame of lust; it cools the thirst of covetousness and banishes the itch of unclean desire… For when I name Jesus, I set before me a man who is meek and humble of heart, kind, prudent, chaste, merciful, flawlessly upright and holy in the eyes of all; and this same man is the all-powerful God whose way of life heals me, whose support is my strength.” (Sermon 15 On the Song of Songs).   St. Bernard of Clairvaux