“At
the Name of Jesus
every knee should bend”
|
“Because of this,
God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the
name which is above every name, that at the name
of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in Heaven
and on earth and under the earth”
(Philippians 2.9-10)
|
But we no longer so
much as bow our heads upon hearing His Name
... let alone bend our
knees as we pass before Him in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the
Altar.
There was a time when, in a mix of many people, one could
always distinguish the Catholics among them. We see vestiges of
this at Mass — and almost exclusively among the elderly. They bow
their heads, however slightly, even imperceptibly, upon hearing
the name, “Jesus.” However old, they struggle to bend their knee
before Christ Himself in that beautiful golden Tabernacle
containing His very Body, Blood, Soul, and divinity!.
Every time
No matter
how often and carelessly the Name is uttered by the priest or
deacon — as they would utter any other name upon Earth
— still the heads bow, reflexively, instinctively, from a life
past, an age past, when “the Name” was sacred ... and understood
as “the Sacred Name.” It derived not from a generation past,
but from centuries past, millennia past, where it was recognized
that one could not always kneel upon hearing the Sacred
Name, but the head ... and the neck ... could always bow
before it.
The Prologue in Heaven
“They
were former days,” you say. Yes ... but from days more ancient
still; the days from which the source and substance of our very
Faith derives, days where a continuity existed — and still exists
— between Heaven above and Earth below; ancient days in which
we hear the words of Saint Paul echoed through the ages:
• “At the name
of Jesus every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth”
(Philippians 2.9-10)
• “Dost thou believe in the Son of God? He answered,
and said: Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in
him? And Jesus said to him: Thou hast both seen
him; and it is he that talketh with thee. And he
said: I believe, Lord. And falling down, he adored
him.” (St. John 9.35-38)
• “Every creature, which is in Heaven, and on the
earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the
sea, and all that are in them: I heard all saying:
To Him that sits on the throne, and to the Lamb,
benediction, and honor, and glory, and power, for
ever and ever. And the four living creatures said:
Amen. And the four and twenty ancients fell down
on their faces, and adored Him that lives for
ever and ever.” (Apocalypse 5.13-14)
• “Peter saw, he fell down at Jesus’ knees,
saying: Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O
Lord.” (St. Luke 5.8)
• “Be converted to me, and you shall be saved, all
ye ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is
no other. I have sworn by myself, the word of justice
shall go out of my mouth, and shall not return:
For every knee shall be bowed to me.” (Isaiah
45.22-24)
|
And for every subsequent generation
... but ours
We are,
after all, too wise ... too sophisticated. We are not blind
beggars and we are not simple fishermen. We are not children.
Indeed.
Each of them entered the Kingdom of Heaven.
So tell
me ... since you are neither blind, nor simple fishermen, nor
children, how do you propose to enter into the Kingdom of God?
3
They fell to their knees before God, and
you ... you will do what? Is your pride so overweening that
you will bring your full height to the face of God? Will
you stride proudly through the Gates of Heaven?
You are a fool!
The arrogant have ever
been an affront to God.
Mary, the very Mother of God,
herself tells us that, “He hath
scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart. He hath put
down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble.”
1
Are you
greater than Mary, Mother of God? Greater than Saint Peter?
Will you make yourself to be even greater than Christ Himself
Who, “fell upon His face, praying”
2
to His Heavenly Father in the Garden of Gethsemane?
And still, when next you pass Him by – Jesus Christ really
and truly present in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar
– and every single day thereafter, you will not so much as
acknowledge Him with the bend of your knee ... nor His Sacred
Name with a nod of your head.
Instead of repenting of this arrogance, and learning from
Christ Who tells us that He Himself is humble
3
— you celebrate! ... most often yourselves — proclaiming
in song, in smug assurance, that you “are God’s people” — “and
the light of the world” — even as you fail to recognize Him
Who stands before you ... Who on Good Friday we had crucified
with our sins.
Why do
you find this so difficult?
Because to bend your knee you must first bend your
will ... just as Lucifer, who was the first to refuse!
You keep
evil company ...
Geoffrey K.
Mondello
Editor
Boston Catholic Journal
________________________________________
1
Saint Luke, 1.51-52
2
Saint Matthew, 26.39
3
Saint Matthew, 11.29
Comments? Write us:
editor@boston-catholic-journal.com
Totally Faithful to
the Sacred Deposit of Faith entrusted
to the Holy See in Rome
“Scio
opera tua ... quia modicum habes virtutem, et servasti
verbum Meum, nec non negasti Nomen Meum”
“I
know your works ... that you have but little power,
and yet you have kept My word, and have not denied
My Name.”
(Apocalypse 3.8)
Copyright © 2004
- 2025 Boston Catholic Journal. All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise stated, permission is granted by
the Boston Catholic Journal for the copying and
distribution of the articles and audio files under
the following conditions: No additions, deletions,
or changes are to be made to the text or audio files
in any way, and the copies may not be sold for a
profit. In the reproduction, in any format of any
image, graphic, text, or audio file, attribution
must be given to the Boston Catholic Journal.
|
|
