Bridging the Gap: What's in a name?

	Bishop David Zubik

A little more than a month ago, we Americans marked the annual observance of Valentine's Day - an opportunity to let people who are special to us know again that they are still special to us. Once reserved for people in love with each other, Valentine's Day has now become an opportunity to show our love to anyone who is special to us. The ways we show that love are as many and varied as we are as individuals. We let some people know we love them by sending a card, taking them out to dinner or simply giving them a telephone call. To others, we let them know our love by a box of candy, a dozen golf balls, a bouquet of flowers, a new necktie or a piece of jewelry. All of these expressions of love reflect what is in our hearts. They become a visible sign of an invisible love that needs to be seen and felt, given and received.

Just as greeting cards and gifts, hugs and kisses, telephone calls and personal visits become signs of our love for others, something even more important - our very name - becomes a "sign" of who we are. Names are important. Names express who we are. Names mirror our identity, our family and especially our faith.

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During the season of Lent we are reminded, in so many ways, of how deep is God's love for us. Lent leads to Easter. Easter happens after Jesus gives His life for us, the focal point of how deep God's love is for us. But before we can come to a deeper appreciation of that love, it is imperative that we come to a deeper understanding of who God is! One of the ways we come to that understanding is by God letting us know who He is through the Bible.

One of the readings that we reflect on in Lent is one in which God tells us His name. In the Old Testament Book of Exodus, God lets the world know His name for the very first time. Speaking to Moses from the burning bush, God lets Moses know how much He loves the Hebrew people; how much He wants to free them from their suffering; and how much He wants them to know that they are His people and He is their God.

God asks Moses to take this message to the Israelite people. He wants Moses to be His messenger. Before he is able to do so, Moses asks God: "If they ask me, 'What is Your name?' 'What am I to tell them?'"

At that moment and for the first time in history, God reveals His name. "Yahweh," a name in Hebrew which means "I am who am."

God's name is more than just a name. It says who God is. It reveals that everything that is, has been made by God. It highlights the truth that all who have been created by God are loved by God.

As we continue on our Lenten journey, we are grateful that God reveals His name, and all that His name means, to us. But we also need to consider how important is our name and all that our name means to God and to all who meet us.

There are many names that define us: our family names that reflect our ancestors; our first names by which people address us; our titles that define our role in society; our nicknames that underline some special part of our personalities. But of all the names that define us, the one important name that we must take seriously if we are serious about Jesus, is the name - Christian. We each received that name at Baptism. That name - Christian - calls us to show the world how much we want to be like Christ.

During this Lenten season, many of us are supporting the Catechumens and candidates who will be received into our Church at Easter. Those who will be baptized will indeed receive the name of Christ in Baptism, just as we received the name Christian at Baptism.

It is not a name that any one of us can ever take for granted or lightly. To bear the name of Christ means that we are all called to become more like Christ. In turn, our words and actions more and more need to reflect Christ's presence within us.

Yes, there is much in a name, in our name. It says something to the world about who we are. More than anything else, may our name, the name of Christian, tell the world something about Christ through us.