BEING CATHOLIC IS WEIRD SOMETIMES
Being Catholic is weird sometimes - or seems to be, at least. Years of experiencing the reactions from both Catholics and non-Catholics to memorials and feasts like “the Beheading of John the Baptist”, drinking from a common communion cup (even pre-COVID), or vocalizing our sins to a priest in Reconciliation have made me aware of the layers of context that underlie the feasts and celebrations that make up the fabric of living my faith as a Catholic. It has also highlighted how some elements of that fabric - like the three I mentioned - can seem strange or even off-putting, to Catholics and non-Catholics alike.
Once upon a time, today’s feast of the Holy Name of Jesus was celebrated on Jan 1 as the “Feast of the Circumcision of Jesus” (The what?! That’s weird! Are you sure we don’t have a gruesome martyrdom to recall?) The 8th day after the birth of a Jewish boy is the day he is circumcised and formally named. Though we now celebrate on Jan 3rd, and focus on the other part of the “8th day” ritual, we recall Jesus, Mary and Joseph living as a faithful Jewish family, honoring the covenant and imparting the name as the angel instructed: Jesus/”God saves”.
On Christmas Day, we were talking with a couple in the family who are expecting their first child. They are in the midst of trying to settle on a name. It’s a daunting task! I very much wanted to name our first child after my grandpa, but their only son shared his name, and he died in infancy. Not wanting to connect that grief with our newborn, we found a name (with a bonus of fitting in a name from my wife’s family) that allowed us to still accomplish our goal of naming him “after” his great-grandpa, Virgil Paulerio. Our son’s name is loaded with history, complex in its mix of sadness, beauty, and love. But it also something different, and his own. It’s how he is known to others, and a name by which he can know and communicate “who” he is.
Reading the two sets of readings for today, the “fullness” of Jesus’ name is what settled in with me. “Jesus” means “God saves”, but has also taken on all of those things from the readings: encouragement, the solace that is in love, mercy and compassion. And we name ourselves “Christians”. As God’s children, “What we shall be has not yet been revealed”, except that we “shall be like him.” To me, that thought is both daunting and consoling, in a way similar to memorials of martyrs. To be like Jesus and to call myself his own is a tall order. I have experienced the disappointment of falling far short, as well as the consoling grace of feeling myself capable of compassion or empathy that I at sometimes don’t intellectually understand though it nevertheless “makes sense” at a deep level.
So, yeah, being Catholic is weird sometimes. There are things I know, but can’t easily explain, and there are things I can explain, but wonder if I’ll ever know.
And speaking of people taking on Jesus’ name: today is the “Titular Feast” of the Society of Jesus. To the crazy Company who have the audacity to follow in the footsteps of Ignatius, sharing the tools he developed “to help souls”, happy feast day!
Jason Coito