The name of the Lord is a curiously powerful thing. Say it deliberately, even in a group of people who are not particularly religious, and you’ll know what I mean. There is a shift in the mood, a change in the atmosphere. When we utter the name of the Lord, He turns His head.
 
Once, in confession, I admitted to the sin of using the Lord’s name in vain. “When you do that, tell God that you love him,” advised the priest, who was wise enough to know that I would repeat this sin at some point. “You’ve said His name, after all. You have His attention.”
 
We hear the name of the Lord, and we think of what it represents — John 3:16, salvation history summed up in a neat little sentence, the why and the how and the who of it all laid out before us. The Lord, so slow to anger that He offers us a million chances. The Lord, so rich in kindness and fidelity that He literally gave Himself to us that we might be saved.
 
But the name of the Lord is more than that. It is not just a symbol, it is an invitation. I think of Moses clutching the commandments, beseeching the Lord: “Come with us. Forgive us. Receive us as your own.” The Lord accompanies us down the mountain. We bear the name of the Lord into the world with us wherever we go.
 
I have to ask myself: do I do that name justice?
 
“Blessed is your holy and glorious name, praiseworthy and exalted above all for all ages.” — Daniel 3:52