The Holy Name

Sister Innocentia by Judith Costello

Whatever happened to that nice quiet calm that is supposed to descend on moms after the return to school?

It didn’t happen here. Instead there is more chaos as the kids adjust to new homework levels and mom adjusts to a schedule that gets busier than ever. So when I sat down at my desk to catch up on email, I was in for a “God Moment” surprise. Sitting right next to my screen, in the spot where our fat cat has cleared away everything so he could spread out, I found a yellowed pamphlet with a tear in the middle. I have no idea how it got there. But it is stamped on the back with the words “Poor Clare Nuns, Rockford, IL, 1963.”

My great aunt was a Poor Clare and she used to send my little pamphlets when I was a girl, nearly 50 years ago! Is Sr. Innocentia trying to tell me something from heaven? She was a very beautiful young woman who joined the Poor Clares at a young age. This is my drawing of her.

I held the little pamphlet with a sense of awe and wonder. It is on “The Holy Name of Jesus.” The pamphlet says that we should say the words, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus” over and over throughout the day. If we say His Name with love and devotion, we obtain a showering of blessings. It says we should pray especially for the souls in purgatory for two reasons: 1) Out of love for those in need, and 2) because when those souls go to heaven and we are the ones in purgatory, they’ll be praying for us! (I never thought of it that way!)

The pamphlet is certainly a reminder to slow down and to call on heaven in times of temptation. I have found it harder to pray of late because of the chaos that seems to be swirling around our family. . .My son is being pulled in so many directions as he enters his Junior year in high school with obligations to this organization and that one. My daughter has switched from home school to a charter school and it is a big adjustment. My life and work keeps shifting and changing. And through it all the devil uses every opportunity to interrupt prayer.

So the call to remember the Holy Name was important to me. I hope it will be important to you. Our country needs prayer. The souls in purgatory need prayer. Our children need prayer. Today let’s all offer to say 20 sets of this simple invocation for these special needs. “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus have mercy on us sinners.”