Our Father 4: Hallowed be thy name

by Sr Mary Magdalene Eitenmiller o.p.

St Thomas Aquinas writes:

"Since prayer interprets our desires, as it were, before God, then alone is it right to ask for something in our prayers when it is right that we should desire it. Now in the Lord’s Prayer not only do we ask for all that we may rightly desire, but also in the order in which we ought to desire them, so that this prayer not only teaches us to ask, but also directs all our affections. Thus it is evident that the first thing to be the object of our desire is the end [goal], and afterwards whatever is directed to the end [the means]. Now our end is God towards Whom our affections tend in two ways: first, by our willing the glory of God, second, by willing [that we should] enjoy His glory. The first [willing the glory of God] belongs to the love by which we love God in Himself, while the second [that we should enjoy His glory] belongs to the love by which we love ourselves in God. So the first petition is expressed thus: Hallowed be Thy name, and the second thus: Thy kingdom come, by which we ask to come to the glory of His kingdom. [And he says later on that “when we say, Hallowed be Thy name, we do not mean that God’s name is not already holy, but we ask that human beings may treat it as a holy thing, and this pertains to the diffusion of God’s glory among all people. When we say, Thy kingdom come, we do not imply that God is not reigning now already, but we excite in ourselves the desire for that kingdom, that it may come to us, and that we may reign in it, as Augustine says” (ST II-II, q. 83, a. 9, ad 1)].

And

"…Now a thing is useful in two ways to [help us toward] that end which is beatitude [so now we’re speaking about the means to get there]: in one way, directly and principally, according to the merit in which we merit beatitude by obeying God, and in this respect we ask: Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; in another way instrumentally, and as it were helping us to merit, and in this respect we say: Give us this day our daily bread, whether we understand this of the sacramental Bread [that is, the Eucharist], the daily use of which is profitable to man, and in which all the other sacraments are contained, or of the bread of the body, so that it denotes all sufficiency of food, as Augustine says (ad Probam, Ep. cxxx, 11), since the Eucharist is the chief sacrament, and bread is the chief food….

"We are directed to beatitude accidentally [indirectly] by the removal of obstacles. Now there are three obstacles to our attainment of beatitude. First, there is sin, which directly excludes a [person] from the kingdom…; and to this refer the words, Forgive us our trespasses. Second, there is temptation which hinders us from keeping God’s will, and to this we refer when we say: And lead us not into temptation, by which we do not ask not to be tempted, but not to be conquered by temptation, which is to be led into temptation. Third, there is the present penal state [after original sin] which is a kind of obstacle to a sufficiency of life, and to this we refer in the words, Deliver us from evil.” (ST II-II, q. 83, a. 9, resp.)

We can see what St Thomas is saying in simplified form in the following diagramme:

 

Another model for looking at the seven petitions is to divide them into the 'thou' petitions and the 'we' petitions as follows:

So those are the seven petitions in the Our Father. Now let us focus more on the first of the seven petitions: “Hallowed be Thy Name.”

            According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “the term ‘to hallow’ is not to be understand here primarily in its causative sense: (only God hallows, makes holy, causes something or someone to be holy), but above all in an evaluative sense; to recognize as holy, to treat in a holy way…. This petition is here taught to us by Jesus as… a petition, a desire, and an expectation in which God and man are involved. [“May your name be hallowed, treated as holy!”] Beginning with this first petition to our Father, we are immersed in the innermost mystery of his Godhead and the drama of the salvation of our humanity. Asking the Father that his name be made holy draws us into his plan of loving kindness for the fullness of time, ‘according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ,’ that we might ‘be holy and blameless before him in love.’(Eph.1.”[1]

            God reveals his name to Moses in the Old Testament in the book of Exodus [YHWH]. This is called the Tetragrammaton, literally four letters, which are four Hebrew consonants. However the vowel sounds were not originally written down, and only later did Hebrew scholars come up with vowel points to indicate the vowel sound, which they added to the Hebrew consonants. So we do not know exactly how YHWH would have been pronounced, because the Israelites or modern Jews would never say it aloud. Instead, out of respect for the divine name, they say an equivalent like Adonai, which means Lord. According to Allen Ross’s Introducing Biblical Hebrew, because the Jews would not pronounce this particular name aloud, and would say Adonai instead (which is Kyrios in Greek or Dominus in Latin, Lord in English), the vowel points from Adonai were added to the Tetragrammaton, so that it formed a hybrid that sounds like Jehovah. But as Ross explains, this was actually due to a misunderstanding, and “scholarly consensus on the correct vocalization of the name is Yahweh.”[2] But out of respect for the Jewish people, and out of respect for God’s name, Christians are discouraged from pronouncing that name ourselves, and always with due reverence.

            So let us look at the narrative from the book of Exodus. Moses says to God, “If I come to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” (Exodus 3:13). And God answers Moses, “I am who I am” [’ehyeh ’ăšer ’ehyeh; אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֶֽהְיֶ֑ה] in verse 14. And God then repeats this name, telling Moses again, “Say this to the sons of Israel, ‘I Am [אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה] has sent me to you.’[This is why when Jesus repeats the I AM sayings in the Gospel of John, such as when he says, “before Abraham was, I AM” (Jn 8:58), the Jews pick up rocks to stone him. They clearly understood that he was referring the divine name to himself, thus claiming divinity for himself.] However, in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, known as the Septuagint, this second I AM (’ehyeh) is simply translated as (ὁ ὢν “the one who is”/ “He who is”). Aquinas notes that this is a revelation that God’s very essence or nature is “To Be” or Being itself. And all other creatures receive a created participation in being from God, who is the source of all being.

Let us continue with Exodus 3. In the very next verse, verse 15, “God also said to Moses, ‘Say this to the sons of Israel, ‘The LORD [יְהוָ֞ה], the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’: this is my name for ever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.” And God repeats this unspeakable name a couple more times to Moses. And many scholars think that this unspeakable name, the Tetragrammaton, YHWH, is related to the verb, ‘to be’, הָיָה (hayah). In fact, the ’ehyeh (I AM) that we saw earlier is the first person singular form of this verb, “to be.”

I just want to return for a moment to Christ’s use of the name, I AM, to refer to his own divinity. In the Gospel of John, there are seven I AM sayings with predicates, such as “I am the Good Shepherd” (Jn 10:11) or “I am the gate” (Jn 10:9). But there are also seven I AM sayings without predicates, which simply leave one hanging, and therefore, are more clearly pointing to the divine name itself. I will just point out what Aquinas says about a few of these in his commentary on the Gospel of John.

Gospel of John, where Christ speaks of Himself as IAM

(1)   The Samaritan woman at the well said that she knew that the Messiah, or Christ, would come, and that “when he comes, he will announce to us all things” (John 4:25). So Jesus replies to her, I AM, the one speaking to you (John 4:26)

(2)   When the disciples were caught at a storm at sea at night, and were afraid at suddenly seeing Jesus walking towards them on the water, he calls out to them, I AM, do not be afraid (John 6:20)

(3)   John 8:24, Unless you believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.

“He says, I am [ego sum; ego eimi]… to recall to them what was said to Moses: I am who am (Exod 3:14), for being [esse] itself is proper to God. For in any other nature but the divine nature, being [esse] and what is are not the same: because any created nature participates its being [esse] from that which is being by its essence, that is, from God, who is his own being [esse], so that his being [esse] is his essence. Thus, this designates only God. And so he says, for if you do not believe that I am, that is, that I am truly God, who has being [esse] by his essence, you will die in your sin.”

[Aquinas continues,] “He says, that I am, to show his eternity. For in all things that begin, there is a certain mutability, and a potency to nonexistence/nonbeing; thus we can discern in them a past and a future, and so they do not have true being [esse] of themselves. But in God there is no potency to non-being, nor has he begun to be. And thus he is ‘to be’ [esse] itself, which is appropriately indicated by the present tense” (Commentary on John, ch. 8, lect. 3, n. 1179).

(4)   John 8:28, When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I AM.

“He mentions the greatness of his divinity when he says, that I AM, that is, that I have in me the nature of God, and that it is I who spoke to Moses, saying: I am who am (Exod 3:14).” (Commentary on John, ch. 8, lect. 3, n. 1192).

(5)   John 8:58, Before Abraham came to be, IAM.

“Our Lord answers the Jews by explaining his words, saying, Amen, amen I say to you, before Abraham was made, I AM. These words of our Lord mention two things about himself that are noteworthy and efficacious against the Arians [who denied the divinity of Christ]. One is that, as [St.] Gregory says, he combines words of present and past time, because before signifies the past, and am signifies the present. Therefore, in order to show that he is eternal, and to indicate that his being [esse] is an eternal being [esse], he does not say, before Abraham, I was, but before Abraham, I am. For eternal being [esse] knows neither past nor future time, but embraces all time in one indivisible instant. Thus it could be said: he who is, sent me to you, and I am who am (Exod 3:14). Jesus had being both before Abraham and after him, and he could approach him by showing himself in the present and be after him in the course of time [in Christ’s human nature; in the Incarnation].

The other point, according to Augustine, is that when speaking of Abraham, a creature, he did not say, before Abraham was, but before Abraham was made [fieret; genesthai, both of which have the sense of becoming]. Yet when speaking of himself, in order to show that he was not made as a creature is, but was eternally begotten from the essence of the Father, he does not say, I came to be, but I am” (Commentary on John, ch. 8, lect. 8, n. 1290).

(6)   I am telling you now before it happens so that you may believe when it happens that I AM, (John 13:19)

(7)   John 18:5-6, ‘Whom do you seek?’ They answered him, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ He said to them, I AM. When he said to them, I AM, they drew back and fell to the ground.

Here we see the power of the name, I AM, which causes all the armed soldiers to fall to the ground. There are other examples of the power of the name of Jesus itself:

(1)   Mt 18:20, For where two or three are gathered in my name [in nomine meo; onoma], I am there among them.

(2)   Hebrews 1:4, Jesus, exalted at God’s right hand, became as much superior to the angels as the name he had inherited is more excellent than theirs.

(3)   Phil 2:9-11, God has highly exalted him, and granted to him the name that is above every name [onoma] so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord [referring to YHWH], to the glory of God the Father.

Richard Bauckham, in his book, Jesus and the God of Israel (p. 37-38), shows how this Philippian hymn alludes to Isaiah 45:22-23, in which God says through the prophet, Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn, from my mouth has gone forth in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.’”[3]

Now let us consider the flip side of this petition, “Hallowed be thy Name,” which is the second commandment: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain [lit. in emptiness, vanity].” And the Catechism points out that “the second commandment forbids the abuse of God’s name, [including] every improper use of the name of God, Jesus Christ, but also of the Virgin Mary and all the saints.”[4] This is because of the close union of Mary and the saints to God, who makes them holy, and of course, Jesus is God. Misusing the names of Mary and the saints is similar to defacing an artist’s painting or sculpture as an insult to the artist himself.

            The second commandment also forbids blasphemy: uttering words of hatred or defiance against God, the name of Jesus, Mary, the saints, and even the Church and sacred things. (CCC n. 2148). It also “forbids false oaths [or perjury]. Taking an oath or swearing is to take God as witness to what one affirms. It is to invoke the divine truthfulness as a pledge of one’s own truthfulness. An oath engages the Lord’s name.”[5]

Now in the sacrament of baptism given to us by Christ, the celebrant performs the command Jesus gave to his disciples right before his ascension into heaven, which is recorded in Matthew 28:19: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Notice that “name” here is in the singular, not the plural, since the three divine persons are the one God. It is in their name (as a sign of their power) that we are made adoptive children of God by the sacrament. In this, we are also given a share in the holiness and life of God, as well as a share in Christ’s inheritance, the glory of heaven, just as one who is adopted is given the family name and the right of inheritance. In the Book of Revelation / the Apocalypse, Jesus says in 2:17, To him who conquers… I will give a white stone, with a new name written on the stone which no one knows except him who receives it (Rev 2:17). And later in the same book of Revelation, John the Evangelist says, Then I looked, and lo, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads (Rev 14:1). According to the Navarre Bible, “the assembly… is an idealization of the Church, protected by Christ and gathered about him. It includes all those who belong to Christ and to the Father and who therefore bear their mark, which shows them to be children of God. [This mark probably signifies baptism.] They are so many that it is impossible to count them, but their number is complete: they are given a symbolic number which is 12 (the tribes of Israel) by 12 (the Apostles) by 1,000 (a number indicating a huge scale).”[6]

            This hallowing of God’s name should be shown, then, in how we ourselves live. St. Peter Chrysologus teaches, “We ask God to hallow his name, which by its own holiness saves and makes holy all creation… It is this name that gives salvation to a lost world. But we ask that this name of God should be hallowed in us through our actions. For God’s name is blessed when we live well, but is blasphemed when we live wickedly…. We ask then that, just as the name of God is holy, so we may obtain his holiness in our souls.”[7]

            And by the power of God’s name, his grace working in us, we are sanctified or made holy as he is holy. And also, we might say that just as a child who does well in some way gives honor to the family name, and particularly to his or her parents, so also one who grows in holiness gives greater glory and honor to God’s name, since it is he who has given us and works in us every good that we have. So let us follow the saints, then, in continuing to give honor to God’s name throughout our lives and in all that we do, that we may also share in the inheritance that he promises to those who are his children and so, rightful heirs to the kingdom.