WEEK 2
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
Last week, we began our Fall Message Series called Teach us to Pray! If you missed the message, it is easy to get caught up here. After the direct address, “Our Father who art in Heaven,” we come to our first request, or the first item we are praying about: hallowed be thy name. Our shortest phrase and it is a bit cryptic.
“Hallowed” is an old-fashioned word. Halloween (the Eve of All Saints) comes from this word, as does the popular app for prayer and spirituality, Hallow (big fan!). Really, what we are asking for here is that God’s name be made holy. Now God is the all holy One, the One whose holiness is beyond measure. Boundless holiness is God.
God’s holiness is also on the lips and in the heart of dear Mother Mary. I like to imagine Mary teaching her little boy Jesus how to pray. Perhaps He sat on her lap, or maybe they were doing the chores together. I bet every moment she tried to pour into Him and teach Him everything that she knew of the faith and the ways of the Lord. Now Mary handed on to Saint Luke a beautiful prayer, called her Magnificat (Lk 1:46ff). It recounts all the wonderful deeds the Lord God has done and will do in salvation; it is a song of praise. And in the first phrases we hear: “The one who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.” Like Mary, Jesus teaches us to recount the holiness of God. I imagine that these words in particular were given to us through the heart of Mary teaching Jesus to pray.
It might sound like an unusual thing to say, but also a great and wonderful thing! Holy is the name of the Lord, or “hallowed be Thy name.” What we are really praying for here is that the holiness of God is recognized in our life and in our world, that God’s name be made holy in and through us.
My friend Saint Augustine puts it this way: "When we say: ‘Hallowed be Thy name,’ we do not ask for something for God, but something for ourselves. We pray that His name may be hallowed in us — that it may be so hallowed in others through us." We are asking for the grace to be a true reflection of God’s majesty, that our souls (like Mary’s) will magnify or proclaim the greatness of the Lord.
Sometime in our prayer, we can move directly to our requests - those petitions and intercessions on our hearts. Here Jesus teaches us to first name the holiness of God. This little phrase helps us to align or conform ourselves to God, something that we will see grows in the prayer’s next phrase.
My friend St. Theresa of Jesus says that these words teach us “to desire only what is for God's honor and glory. His name is to be sanctified in us, and by us, through the way we live and love." - Way of Perfection, Ch. 36 (available in many editions, this work in part unpacks the Our Father over several chapters and is a very worthy read).
A few questions for reflection this week: 1) how could God’s name be made more holy (evident) in my life? What one change could I make to reflect more the holiness of God? 2) Do I keep the name of God as holy, treating with reverence and honor the name of the Lord?
I am really appreciating being on this journey with you and delving deeper myself into the mystery and majesty of this core Christian prayer! I pray we can all be even better reflections of God’s holiness in our world.
Peace and blessings +
Fr. Joel
