Today (the second Holy Name day) is also my day off, and I decided to watch that movie about Watergate that everyone raved about 45 years ago. All the President’s Men stars Robert Redford as a heroic reporter who brought down a president. The movie depressingly portrays the beginning of the end of a social order in which we are now in the advanced stages. The Washington Post newsroom runs well because folks still respect authority and respect each other, but you can tell time is running out. But the movie brought back fond memories of the interminable Watergate hearings I heard on the car radio during long drives with my Dad.
At about 75 minutes into the movie, however, I realized the actors were tossing the Holy Name too often. “Jesus” this and “Jesus” that. Should I turn it off? How often is “too often” with blasphemy? I turned off the movie and wrote this blog. If the Most Holy Name of Jesus seldom heals people these days, and if the Sacred Name has less power to bring us out of our depressions, it’s because we fling the Name about in vain “too often.” For the first 75 minutes of the movie it didn’t bother me. But now that I’ve read the book, abuse of the Name bothers me. Don’t use the Name in that way, God tells us, or it won’t work for you. It will lose its power to console you, to protect you, to strengthen you, to save you. Don’t even listen to someone else misusing the Name, if you can help it. But try this: when you are up against a wall, or even just a little sad, say the name of Jesus, and lift your heart to Him, and see what happens.