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Mar 25th, 2025
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Dear Friends,
The Jesuits celebrate the Feast of the Name of Jesus as their patronal festival.
I read in the life of St Gabriel Lalement, SJ, as he was being tortured, together with St Jean de Brebeuf, SJ, by the Iroquois on March 16-17 1649 that he simply repeated the prayer:
Jesus, have mercy on us!
Although weak in health, and only there in Huronia for a few months, St Gabriel was tortured the longest of all the North American Jesuit Martyrs, from the afternoon of March 16 - until the morning of March 17th when he was sacrificed to the Iroquois war god.
The Jesus prayer strengthened him and accompanied him to Heaven.
Reading that has given the Jesus Prayer a whole new dimension for me!
Alex
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Hi Alex, I had not heard of that incident before. Good stuff, thanks! I've made it a bit of a hobby to collect Latin writings related to the Jesus Prayer. Have you ever read anything by Richard Rolle-14th century English mystic? From, "The Invocation of the Name of Jesus: As Practiced in the Western Church," Rama Coomaraswamy, Fons Vitae, Louisville, KY, 1999, p.137. I added paragraph breaks below for easier reading: If thou wilt be well with God, and have grace to rule thy life right and come to the joy of love, fasten this Name of Jesus so fast in thine heart that it can never come out of thy thought. And when thou speakest to Him, saying through habit, Jesus!, it shall be in thine ear joy, in thy mouth honey, in thy heart melody; it shall think joy to hear that Name named, sweetness to speak it, mirth and song to think it.
If thou thinkest on Jesus continually and holdest Him stably, it purges thy sin, and kindles thy heart; it clarifies thy soul, removes anger, and does away with slowness. It wounds in love, it fills full with charity; it chases the devil and quenches fear, it opens heaven and makes a contemplative man.
Have Jesus in memory, for that puts all vices and phantoms far from the lover. If thou wilt not deceive nor be deceived: if though wilt be wise and not unwise, think on this Name, Jesus, continually. It destroys all vices and vanities. It sows charity and virtues in the soul, and pours in the savor of heaven and the fullness of God's grace into earth.
Whosoever loves this Name, Jesus, without forgetting, dies in wonderful melody, and is taken by angels and brought before Him Whom he loved. This Name Jesus is above all names, to which all knees kneel, of heaven and earth and hell.
Eat and drink, sleep and wake, speak and hold silence, pray and think, work and all that thou dost do it in the Name of Jesus, bids St. Paul.
God bless you and keep you and give you good perseverance, though the virture of this joyful Name, Jesus, Amen. There's actually quite a lot of writings on the Jesus Prayer in the Latin Church although it's usually referred to as the devotion to or invocation of the Holy Name.  Peace
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In the devotion to the Most Holy Name of Jesus, many will invoke the Divine Name as the Prayer "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus."
Another pious practice is when entering or leaving a Roman Church is to make the Sign of the Cross with Holy Water and then trace "INRI" on one's forehead while saying "Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews have mercy on me."
O Holy Martyrs of North America, intercede for us!
Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews have mercy on me!
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Excellent, Dr. Eric. Also, it is common to link the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary together in the Latin invocation. A practice that is not without precedent in the East. Here's a passage from Thomas `a Kempis', "Valley of the Lilies"--chapter 13 me thinks: ...And as you travel on this earthly pilgrimage, take for yourself as a provision, much as a shepard's staff held firmly in the hand, this short prayer, "JESU-MARIA". Say it often and with great devotion. JESU-MARIA be with me always on the way, in every place and at all times. Be my strong guide lest I wander in error from the true path or be frightened by inner or outer imaginings. The holy prayer "JESU-MARIA" is brief of speech, light to carry, easy to hold and sweet to contemplate. It is a strong shield, faithful as a guardian, friendly as a companion, delightful as a refreshment, sweet as a consolation and powerful as a help.
The prayer JESU-MARIA is a most powerful method for all of us poor pilgrims on the way to the eternal life, a way to be traveled with justice and with contempt of the world. This holy prayer of "JESU-MARIA" makes better allies and more powerful soldiers than all the kings and princes of this world. It makes better and liftier saints than all the saints in heaven and on earth. This holy prayer attracts to him who says it the whole heavenly court, for this court follows with all reverence its Lord Jesus Christ and his holy mother Mary, for she is worthy of all dignity and is honored by all.
Do not forsake that Jesus tat--along with May--with whom you wish for all eternity to live and rejoice. He who carries Jesus and Mary in his heart, repeats JESUS and MARY with his lips, blesses JESUS and MARY with his mouth, clapping with his hands and dancing with his feet, he belches out JESUS and MARY with his voice, with his heart refjoicing, his eyes beseeching, his face expressing his longing, embracing JESUS and MARY with his arms, kissing them with his lips and adoring them on his knees. Such a person travels on this earthly pilgrimage in a beneficial and secure manner....
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Originally posted by Dr. Eric:
Another pious practice is when entering or leaving a Roman Church is to make the Sign of the Cross with Holy Water and then trace "INRI" on one's forehead while saying "Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews have mercy on me."
This also reminded me of these verses of Sacred Scripture: Revelation 7:2-3 "Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, 3 saying, "Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads." Revelation 9:4 "They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads." I think that the above practice strengthens us against accepting the mark of the beast, whether during the "End Times" or in our day to day struggles. Chance, Thanks for that excerpt. O Holy Martyrs of North America, pray for us! Pray that we may have Holy Zeal for Christ our God. Pray that we may spread the Gospel even to the shedding of our blood! Lord Jesus Christ Son of God, have mercy on us sinners!
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Originally posted by Chance:
From, "The Invocation of the Name of Jesus: As Practiced in the Western Church," Rama Coomaraswamy, Fons Vitae, Louisville, KY, 1999, p.137. Chance, I would only caution you that Rama Coomaraswamy, who reposed last month, was a sedevacantist and had his ordination from a hierarch whose orders were themselves from a vagante line. May God have mercy on him. Many years, Neil
"One day all our ethnic traits ... will have disappeared. Time itself is seeing to this. And so we can not think of our communities as ethnic parishes, ... unless we wish to assure the death of our community."
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I would only caution you that Rama Coomaraswamy, who reposed last month, was a sedevacantist and had his ordination from a hierarch whose orders were themselves from a vagante line. Thanks Neil, I thought Coomaraswamy was actually a devotee of Sufism, but that may just be his publishing house. I don't see that as discounting his collection of the Latin Fathers' writings on devotion to the Holy Name--unless, of course, someone has questioned his translations. Anyway, the work cited above is strictly addressed to the subject at hand without any political commentary on the current state of the Chair of Peter. Peace
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Dear Dr Eric, Thank you for sharing that beautiful Latin Catholic tradition! I suppose one could also trace the Jesuit "IHS" on one's forehead too while repeating the Jesus Prayer - I'll take that practice up and make it my own - thanks once again! Alex
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Dear Chance,
Yes, I love the Western Litany to the Name of Jesus and the Jesus Psalter - as Dr Eric also alluded to!
St Francis of Assisi, whenever he spoke the Name of Jesus, would stop and use his tongue to lick his lips.
He would say that when we pronounce the Name of Jesus - spiritual honey bursts forth from our mouth and it is necessary to lick every bit of it from our lips lest it becomes lost! How beautiful! What a great saint of God!!
And Fr. Lev Gillet, the "Monk of the Eastern Church" (formerly secretary to Met. Andrew Sheptytsky before he became Orthodox), would travel on public transit and look at the passengers over which he would say "Jesus, Jesus" to pray for them individually. He only used the single word "Jesus" as his Jesus Prayer.
I've also noticed that when I recite the Jesus Prayer, I have tended to emphasize the "have mercy on me a sinner."
This sometimes makes me sad . . .
But when I emphasize "Jesus" in that Prayer, I become happy, joyous and sometimes want to jump up and down!
The Name of Jesus, when repeated throughout the day, soothes and cools our minds, enveloping ours souls with a real feeling of God's healing, warming Presence around us and in us.
And, I understand, in the Latin Catholic Church, there was always the tradition of bowing one's head upon hearing the Names of Jesus or Mary.
I now like to cross myself when using the Jesus Prayer and the Old Rite Orthodox form of using two fingers representing the Divine and Human Natures of OLGS Jesus Christ brings an added, rich spiritual dimension to it all!
PAX, dear friend!
Alex
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St Francis of Assisi, whenever he spoke the Name of Jesus, would stop and use his tongue to lick his lips. Ah, I knew about St. Francis calling the Holy Name spiritual honey but I never read of him licking his lips. Just like something the Lord's troubadour from Assisi would do. Peace
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I love the Western Litany to the Name of Jesus and the Jesus Psalter Hey Alex, I was rereading this thread and missed this about the Jesus Psalter. I'm not familiar with it. Is this another name for the Blessed Sacrament Chaplet: "Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament on the altar have mercy on us." ?? Blessed Sacrament Chaplet [ catholicculture.org] Thanks
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Dear Chance, First of all, thank you for making such a beautiful witness to Carmelite spirituality here! The "Jesus Psalter" is a Western devotion based on the Holy Name of Jesus and can be found here: www.catholictradition.org/Christ/jesus2.htm [ catholictradition.org] Cheers, Alex
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Thanks so much for your kind comments, brother Alex. Hey, I printed up the Jesus Psalter from your link and prayed it this morning. What a wonderful combination of invoking the Holy Name and intriguing meditations. To give the prayer a slightly more Eastern slant I used single invocations instead of triple invocations of the Holy Name with the petitions. I had heard of saying 150 Our Fathers, but this was new to me, thanks again for mention it! Peace
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