589. How is the Name of God made holy in us and in the world?

589. How is the Name of God made holy in us and in the world?       

(Comp 589) To make holy the Name of God, who calls us “to holiness” (1 Thessalonians 4:7) is to desire that our baptismal consecration animate our whole life. In addition, it is to ask –with our lives and our prayers – that the Name of God be known and blessed by every man.

“In brief”

(CCC 2815) This petition embodies all the others. Like the six petitions that follow, it is fulfilled by the prayer of Christ. Prayer to our Father is our prayer, if it is prayed in the name of Jesus (Cf. Jn 14:13; 15:16; 16:24, 26). In his priestly prayer, Jesus asks: "Holy Father, protect in your name those whom you have given me" (Jn 17:11).   

To deepen and explain

(CCC 2813) In the waters of Baptism, we have been "washed … sanctified … justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God" (2 Cor 6:11). Our Father calls us to holiness in the whole of our life, and since "he is the source of [our] life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and … sanctification" (1 Cor 1:30; cf. 1 Thess 4:7) both his glory and our life depend on the hallowing of his name in us and by us. Such is the urgency of our first petition. By whom is God hallowed, since he is the one who hallows? But since he said, "You shall be holy to me; for I the LORD am holy," we seek and ask that we who were sanctified in Baptism may persevere in what we have begun to be. And we ask this daily, for we need sanctification daily, so that we who fail daily may cleanse away our sins by being sanctified continually.... We pray that this sanctification may remain in us (St. Cyprian, De Dom. orat. 12: PL 4, 527A; Lev 20:26).   

Reflection

(CCC 2814) The sanctification of his name among the nations depends inseparably on our life and our prayer: 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. As the Apostle says: "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you." We ask then that, just as the name of God is holy, so we may obtain his holiness in our souls (St. Peter Chrysologus, Sermo 71, 4: PL 52:402A; cf. Rom 2:24; Ezek 36:20-22). When we say "hallowed be thy name," we ask that it should be hallowed in us, who are in him; but also in others whom God's grace still awaits, that we may obey the precept that obliges us to pray for everyone, even our enemies. That is why we do not say expressly "hallowed be thy name 'in us,"' for we ask that it be so in all men (Tertullian, De orat. 3: PL 1:1157A).    

(Next question: What does the Church ask for when she prays “Thy Kingdom come”?)