Name Calling

Waiting patiently until God bestows our heavenly name

08/24/2017

John 1:45-51 Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth." But Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come from Nazareth? "Philip said to him, "Come and see." Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, "Here is a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in him." Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree." Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel." Jesus answered and said to him, "Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this." And he said to him, "Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

             People go through several names in the course of their life. When we are born, for instance, our parents choose a name for us. The traditional Catholic practice was to use the saint’s name for the feast day when you were born, but sadly that’s rarely done now. Today pick names like “Thor” and “Artemis.” But some people also have a nickname at home. My name is “John,” but at home my parents called me “Jolly.” When we are Confirmed, we take a saint’s name, someone whose virtues we would like to emulate. One friend even legally changed his name at Confirmation. Some people’s names were changed when they went through Ellis Island and came to America.

              People still write my last name with an “h,” that is, “Anthony.” But I correct them saying, “It’s ‘Antony,’ like the Emperor Mark Antony, but no Cleopatra.” And the first rule I learned upon arriving in Fort Smith was to learn maiden names. Why? Well, because virtually everyone in Fort Smith is related, and you don’t know who someone is until you know their maiden name. When you become the pope – or a monk at Subiaco, or a nun at St. Scholastica – you can take a new name. When Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected as the Successor of St. Peter, he took the name “Pope Francis.” In the course of our lives we go through a lot of names.

               Remembering that people use multiple names can be helpful when you read the Bible. Today’s gospel mentions “Nathanael.” That was his Hebrew name.  Do you know what his Roman, or Latin, name was? It was “Bartholomew.” Many characters in the Bible were called various names. For example, “Simon,” is also “Peter.” “Levi” is the same as “Matthew.” “Jacob” is the same person as “Israel.” Today is the feast day of St. Bartholomew, and that’s why the gospel reading has to do with Jesus meeting Nathanael. Bartholomew and Nathanael are the same person, just like Pope Francis and Jorge Mario Bergoglio are the same person. Throughout the course our life – indeed, throughout the course of the Bible! – people are called by different names.

               My friends, may I suggest to you that you will not know your real name until you get to heaven? Why not? Well, because that’s where God will bestow upon you your real, true and eternal name. Matthew Kelly, the popular Christian speaker and author (the guy with the great Australian accent), often says, “become the best version of yourself.” Well, I am convinced that we won’t become that “best version of our selves” until we get to heaven, because that’s when we’ll become our fullest and final selves. That’s when God will give us our name.

              C. S. Lewis collected his favorite excerpts from the writings of George MacDonald, his mentor, into one book. In one excerpt, MacDonald touches this heavenly name, saying, “The giving of the white stone with the new name is the communication of what God thinks about the man to the man…It is only when the man has become his name that God gives him the stone with the name upon it, for then first can he understand what his name signifies” (Lewis, George MacDonald, An Anthology – 365 Readings, no. 15). In other words, just like you have to be careful talking to a woman in Fort Smith until you know her maiden name, so you should take care how you talk to anyone until you know their heavenly name. People are still becoming the best version of themselves, you don’t know them fully yet - they don’t even know themselves fully yet - you don’t know their real name yet.  Be patient with one another.

   

              We go through a lot of names in the course of our life – John, Jolly, Anthony, Mark Antony, etc. But it is not until we get to the end of our life that we will receive our real names - the name God gives us - and only then will we know who we really are.

Praised be Jesus Christ!