CAPG's Blog 

" You are justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." — x Cor. vi. xx.

Extracts from a book entitled " The Man of Prayer? written by that servant of God, Le Pere NOUET, S J.

It is true, to do this worthily, we have need of His help; but He is too jealous of His glory to refuse even this, and we need not fear but that He will not fail to assist us, since it is He himself who has inspired us. Let us then open our hearts to Him, in order that He may engrave thereon His holy Name; and if you earnestly wish to receive His divine inspirations, make yourself worthy of His promises.

Let us be thoroughly convinced that the greatest honor we can pay to the Son of God, in His quality of Redeemer, is to embrace courageously every means which He holds out to us to save our souls. Our happiness is so mixed up with His glory, that we cannot be lost without doing Him an injustice, and to snatch from Him that which ismost dear to Him, namely, our eternal salvation.

If we have this holy Name deeply engraved on our hearts, it will not be difficult to imagine but that it should be often on our lips, that is to say, that we should invoke it often and often, and that we should do our best to impress it upon the hearts of others; for it is so sweet a perfume that it seeks only to be spread far and wide ; it is a spring so limpid that nothing makes it more plentiful and clearer than when many come to slake their thirst; it is a light which ought to illuminate the universe.

Oh! what a joy to be able to contribute in some degree to the glory of Jesus, and to the veneration of His most holy Name! Oh! that I could induce all men to pay Him homage, and that I could hear every tongue proclaim His praises!

Here is the best and foremost of all my desires, that at the holy Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven, on earth, in hell; and that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus is in the glory of His Father. Omnis lingua confiteatur quia Dominus Jesus Christus in glorid est Dei Patris (Phil, ii.)

A true devotion to the holy Name will help to obtain our own sanctification; for in saving our own souls, we accomplish the greatest desire of our Savior, and we contribute on our part to do that which adds an additional glory to Him, which is our own salvation.

Our salvation depends, on the one part, on Him; on the other, on ourselves. On His part He has abundantly supplied us with all that was necessary to complete the work of that grand, important, and sole hope of a happy eternity. He has cured all our infirmities; He has given us preservatives and wholesome remedies against all our vicious habits; He has delivered us from the power of the devil; He has reconciled us with His Eternal Father; He has paid all our debts; He has surmounted every obstacle to our salvation, and, through excess of love, He has shed His Blood, and after suffering excruciating pains He expired on the cross. But, after all, if we do not make a good use of His graces, all that He has done and suffered will be in vain, inasmuch as we deprive Him of the glory of His holy Name.

In addition to this, the most solid devotion to the holy Name of Jesus is to love and try zealously to obtain the salvation of our neighbor. Nothing is so dear to the Sacred Heart as the salvation of a soul. His life so full of hardships, His death so cruel, are evident proofs of this.

How careful ought those to be who have been called to the ministry of God's Word, and to other functions which contribute to the salvation of souls who have been ransomed by His precious Blood.

How glorious to be employed in His service, to have the power of dispensing the merits of His sufferings and death.

You whose vocation it is to work continually for the salvation of those souls entrusted to your care, think seriously how sad it would be if one soul should perish through your negligence. But what would it be if, instead of saving souls, your conduct through life should be a cause of scandal?

Oh! let us think of what we are and what we ought to be. We ought to be as so many saviors of men in our intercourse with the world, edifying them by our example, instructing them, succoring them, praying always for them, and by our ardor and zeal doing our best to secure their salvation.

Listen, then, to the voice of the Blood of that Redeemer who beseeches you, by virtue of His Name and the excess of His love, to help Him to make His Name efficacious by saving souls, and by making them partakers of the fruit of His precious Blood.

Source: Half Hours with the Saints and Servants