“At
the Name of Jesus
every knee should bend”
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“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)
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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.”
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)
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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
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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)
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