Our job in keeping God's name holy.

  It may seem odd that we can do anything to keep God’s name holy.  Indeed, God’s name is holy without us.  But we are called to keep God’s name holy, or hallowed, in the Our Father.  Scott Hahn pointed out that “hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done” all receive the “on earth as it is in Heaven” qualifier.  I think of it as the angels and saints do the Heaven portion and we do the earth portion.

   So, how can we keep God’s name holy?  There are numbers of ways.  The first and foremost is to make sure we do not take his name in vain, as in not swearing or cursing with His name.  Commandment #2.  Saying “Jesus Christ” when you are mad and not actually talking to or about Jesus.  And the cursing that seems like we are asking for God to damn something.

   And when others do this, we can do simple things.  You can show your displeasure, not in being mad, but in a sad disposition.  Perhaps say a prayer or beat your chest in reparation for their offense against God’s name.  If you are stronger than I, you can say something like “My Lord”, “My God”, or “My Savior”.  If the person is offended, it is only because they have been caught in their own words and you are just reflecting them back in a way that they see what they really said.

   Another way to keep God’s name holy is to keep fatherhood holy.  It is the ‘Our Father’ in which we are called to keep God’s name holy.  If His very name is Father, we need to keep fatherhood holy.  We need to respect fathers, and mothers too, as is evident by the 4^thCommandment; “Honor your father and your mother”.  And fathers and mothers should live up to the commandment in being an parent worthy of honor.

   And to the heart of the faith, we can keep God’s name as Father holy if we are good children of His.  If we live out our holy childhood as children of God, we are trusting Him, honoring Him, and loving Him as the all-loving Father that He is to us, yesterday, today, and tomorrow.  “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” – [Matthew 18:3-4]

   Jesus, help us to be good sons and daughters to Your Father and Our Father in Heaven.