« Hallowed be thy name! » with Saint Teresa of Avila, Our Mother (2)

« Hallowed be thy name! ».

In this chapter 30 of The Way of Perfection, Saint Teresa meditates at length on this fervent request in the Lord's Prayer: “Hallowed be thy name.”

For Saint Teresa, the soul that utters these words desires above all that God be recognized, loved, and honored. She writes: “We cannot add anything to God's holiness, but we can make it known.” Sanctifying the Name of the Father then becomes a call to let God shine in us, through our transformed lives, through the truth of our love.

Saint Teresa shows that this request is demanding. For her, sanctifying the Name of the Father means living in such a way that our conduct leads others to glorify God rather than deny him. She warns her sisters with realism: "We must ensure that those who see us glorify God; otherwise, it would be profaning his Name. “Thus, our lives must be a humble and consistent witness. She insists further:” Let our lives be so upright that the holy Name we invoke will not be blamed because of us."

For Saint Thérèse, sanctifying the Name of God means allowing God to shine through in our actions, our brotherly love, our humility, and our faithfulness.

In this same chapter, Thérèse begins to describe the prayer of quiet, which she will develop further later on. She indicates that this gift from God helps the soul to better understand what it means to sanctify the Name of the Father : "When the Lord begins to give the prayer of quiet, the soul understands better what it means to sanctify the Name of God, because its will is fixed more firmly in Him. " This state is marked by an inner peace where the heart rests in God.

Let your holiness shine in me, not through my merits, but through your grace! As Thérèse says: “May I live only so that your Name may be glorified!” Give me this quietness where I cease to struggle, where your love pacifies my resistance. Sanctify your Name in me in this silence where you work, even when I understand nothing. May my life say something about you: a gesture of kindness, forgiveness offered, a word that soothes. May your Name be sanctified in my very frailties, like a light shining through clay.

To sanctify the Name of God is to offer our lives so that they may become a sign, even a discreet one, of his presence. Our wounded world awaits witnesses who carry the peace received in prayer. As Thérèse says forcefully: “The world is on fire... now is the time to serve God.” Quiet prayer, by rooting us in God, makes us silent hearths that warm, gather, and soothe.

May our daily prayer become humble service! May the world recognize, through us, the holiness of the Father's Name!

(To be continued)

Quelques versions du "Notre Père" dans notre chapelle (suite)