588. What does “Hallowed be thy Name” mean? (part 2 continuation)
(Comp 588 repetition) To hallow or make
holy the Name of God is above all a prayer of praise that acknowledges God as
holy. In fact, God revealed his holy Name to Moses and wanted his people to be
consecrated for him as a holy nation in which he would dwell.
“In brief”
(CCC 2858) By asking
"hallowed be thy name" we enter into God's plan, the sanctification
of his name - revealed first to Moses and then in Jesus - by us and in us, in
every nation and in each man.
To deepen and explain
(CCC 2809) The holiness of God is the inaccessible center of
his eternal mystery. What is revealed of it in creation and history, Scripture
calls "glory," the radiance of his majesty (Cf. Ps 8; Isa 6:3). In
making man in his image and likeness, God "crowned him with glory and
honor," but by sinning, man fell "short of the glory of God" (Ps
8:5; Rom 3:23; cf. Gen 1:26). From that time on, God was to manifest his
holiness by revealing and giving his name, in order to restore man to the image
of his Creator (Col 3:10).
Reflection
(CCC 2810) In the promise to Abraham and the oath that
accompanied it (Cf. Heb 6:13), God commits himself but without disclosing his
name. He begins to reveal it to Moses and makes it known clearly before the
eyes of the whole people when he saves them from the Egyptians: "he has
triumphed gloriously" (Ex 15:1; cf. 3:14). From the covenant of Sinai
onwards, this people is "his own" and it is to be a "holy (or
"consecrated": the same word is used for both in Hebrew) nation"
(Cf. Ex 19:5-6) because the name of God dwells in it. [IT CONTINUES]
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