Part 4 of “Learning to Pray to Our Father”

The name of God is a gift.

It is not merely a placeholder for his presence, like a sign that points to a thing that is not otherwise there. No, the name of God is the presence and the action of God.

When Moses asked God for his name, God said “I am who I am” (Exodus 3:14). To invoke his name is to encounter his presence. But the other translation of the Hebrew name God gives Moses is something like “I Will Be What I Will Be.” To invoke the holy name in that sense means to accept the works of the Lord as revealing who God is, because what God does for us shows us who God is. It all comes to us as a gift: God’s presence, God’s action.

The name of God is not something in addition to Jesus Christ, and receiving the gift of that name is not separate from receiving and entering into him. Indeed, as Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) wonderfully expressed:

“The name of Jesus brings the mysterious name at the burning bush to its fulfillment; now we can see that God had not said all that he had to say but had interrupted his discourse for a time. This is because the name ‘Jesus’ in its Hebrew form includes the word ‘Yahweh’ and adds a further element to it: God ‘saves’. ‘I am who I am’ –– thanks to Jesus, this now means: ‘I am the one who saves you.’ His Being is salvation. (Joseph Ratzinger, The God of Jesus Christ)

Jesus instructs us to revere the name of God––to observe and remember this name’s holiness––because this is the presence and this is the action that saves us. We forget who and what we are if we take this name for granted, if we fail to recognize the God who comes to us, if we neglect to remember that we are the ones whom he saves.

Jesus’ name is the name “that is above every other name” (Philippians 2:9), because he himself is the Father’s love given to us and he draws us in himself to the heart of the Father. In Jesus, we call God “our Father,” but that is never something we earn or can claim as our own. It is a gift, which we are given in the name of Christ.

Praying to God by name is therefore always preceded by the gift of God to us. We are recipients before we are petitioners; we are found before we seek. To pray in Christ is an exercise in gratitude: he has given us the power to pray through his own presence and action.

Practice praying: I invite and challenge you to pray the Lord’s Prayer each day this week. In fact, pray it twice each day. Pray it once, then spend several minutes pondering the significance of the words “Hallowed Be Thy Name.” Consider God’s action for you in your life. Take a few minutes to write your thoughts in a prayer journal. Then pray the Lord’s prayer again.

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Find more: This series draws on sections of my book Into the Heart of the Father: Learning from and Giving Yourself through Christ in Prayer. I am grateful to my publisher, Word Among Us Press, for allowing me to share these sections with you here. If you are interested, I hope you will check out the book – I think you’ll like it.

Study and pray with others: I have also designed a reading, prayer, and discussion guide for groups that would like to read the book and learn how to pray better together. This is ideal for parishes, schools, and families.