Uttering names with utmost care
Exodus 3:13-15
Moses, hearing the voice of the LORD from the burning bush, said
to him, “When I go to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your
fathers has sent me to you,’ if they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what am I to
tell them?” God replied, “I am who am.” Then he added, “This is what you shall
tell the children of Israel: I AM sent me to you.” God spoke further to Moses,
“Thus shall you say to the children of Israel: The LORD, the God of your
fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has sent me to
you. “This is my name forever; this my title for all generations.
In the
seminary we learned how to say Mass properly.
One of the rubrics – those are the instructions for saying Mass – was
that whenever Jesus’ name is mentioned the priest should bow his head as a sign
of respect for that holy name. Well, one
friend was rather scrupulous about this and would do that in everyday
conversations. So another seminarian
teased him endlessly by using Jesus’ name in every sentence, just to make my
friend bow his head repeatedly. He resembled
one of those bobble head dolls, or how we Indians speak while shaking our
heads. But that scrupulous seminarian
had the right intention: trying to show honor for the holy name of Jesus, even
he if got a little carried away.
In the
first reading from Exodus chapter 3, Moses learns another name that should be
honored and revered, the holy name of God.
When Moses asks God his name, the Almighty answers: “I am who I am,”
which in Hebrew is rendered with four letters, YHWH, or “Yahweh.” By the 6th century B.C. it was forbidden for
a Jew to even say that Name. It was the
first four letter word you should never say!
Not because it’s a bad word, but because it’s so good and holy, our lips
are not clean enough to utter it. Good
thing my scrupulous friend was not a Jew, he would have looked like he was
having an epileptic seizure as he spoke. But you see, some names are so sacred
that we shouldn’t even say them.
My
friends, let me suggest to you that all names are sacred, not just divine names
but also human names, including yours
and mine. You don’t need to bow your
head when you say “Fr. John” but I do hope you’ll say my name with respect when
you talk about me. Don’t you hope people
will do that with your name when they talk about you? I learned this lesson when I wrote my book
last year. The editor said I could not
mention someone specifically by name without their permission. Can you imagine if we applied that same rule,
that rubric, in our daily conversations?
Don’t say someone’s name without their permission! We’d all be like my scrupulous seminarian
friend: bobbling our heads and stopping and starting suddenly in our
sentences. No wonder Indian people
bobble our heads when we speak: we’re really showing respect for people! Everyone should be more like Indians.
Do you
know what the second of the Ten Commandments is? Of course you do: do not take the name of the
Lord in vain. The Jews felt like we
always take God’s name in vain, so they stopped saying his name
altogether. Let me invite you to expand
that commandment to include ALL names, even yours and mine, and avoid taking
all names in vain. You see, names are
sacred syllables and they should only be uttered with due honor and esteem.
Praised be
Jesus Christ!
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