Secret Names

Learning others’ names and loving neighbor and God

08/24/2018

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."

There is a peculiar power in a person’s name, and let me give you some examples to illustrate this. Some names evoke the emotion of love and affection, like your child’s name or your beloved’s name. Our hearts skip a beat when we hear others talk about them by name. Other names bring out anger and aversion to those of a political persuasion, like “Trump” or “Obama.” Grrrr! Still other names are synonymous with an organization, like a church. Many years ago when someone uttered the name “Msgr. Galvin,” people thought of Immaculate Conception Church, and when someone said, I.C. they immediately intimated “Msgr. Galvin.” Now, when people say “I.C.” they just think of a priest look for a free meal.  Some people are so prominent they give their name to a political movement like “Marxism” named for the German philosopher Karl Marx. Or Buddha, whose name and life inspired the philosophical religion of Buddhism.

C. S. Lewis explained our true name will only be fully revealed in heaven, when God tells us what it is. He wrote: “But it is also said, ‘To him that overcometh I will give a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.” Lewis continued: “What can be more a man’s own than this new name which even in eternity remains a secret between God and him? And what shall we take this secrecy to mean? Surely, that each of the redeemed shall forever know and praise some one aspect of the Divine beauty better than any other creature can” (The Problem of Pain, 154). In other words, the peculiar power of a person’s name rests in its ability to reveal something about God himself. When you know a person’s name, you know God a little better.

August 24 is the annual feast of St. Bartholomew and I want to tell you three things about his name and his fame. And I believe knowing that name more intimately you may love God more intensely. First of all Bartholomew is one of two names ascribed to the same saint. He is also known as “Nathaniel.” Hence, the gospel passage for this feast is taken from John 1, the calling of Nathaniel. Many of the apostles enjoyed two names, a Hebrew one and a Latin one, like “Cephas / Peter,” and “Levi / Matthew” - two names referring to the same apostle. The power and prestige of an apostle’s name is such that it is able to reveal two aspects of God’s beauty, not just one like me and you.

Secondly, St. Bartholomew / Nathaniel is purported to have sailed to India in the year 50 A.D. So, India boasts the distinction of being evangelized by two apostles, both St. Bartholomew and St. Thomas. Bartholomew landed near the region of Bombay, while Thomas went farther south to my home state of Kerala. And how did we Indians say “thank you” to these two great apostles of the Lamb? We martyred them. St. Bartholomew was skinned alive and beheaded. Michaelangelo’s famous fresco of the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel depicts St. Bartholomew with a knife in one hand and his skin in the other. That may seem macabre to us, but it was marvelous to Bartholomew, who gladly gave his life for the Lord whom he loved more than life itself. His name and his fame show forth more of the Divine Beauty.

And the third thing is a little Catholic humor (at least I think it’s funny). Do you know what profession claims St. Bartholomew for its patron saint? Tanners, believe it or not. Those who tan the skins of animals can look to St. Bartholomew for intercession and inspiration as they go about their work each day. Maybe a tanner or two, while holding a knife in one hand and a pelt in the other hand, feels as famous as a fresco in a Michaelangelo painting!

Today as you learned a little more about the life and legacy of Nathaniel / Bartholomew, I hope you also felt a little more love for God and his beauty shining through this singular saint. Names help us fulfill the fundamental, two-fold commandments of love of God and love of neighbor. And that is the peculiar power of a person’s name.

Praised be Jesus Christ!