
The month of January is the month of the year that the Church dedicates to the Most Holy Name of Jesus. Why is the Holy Name of Our Lord honoured in a special way during this month? It is because of the feast day that traditionally used to be celebrated on the 1st of January, on the Octave Day of Christmas.
In the Gospel of St. Luke, we read that after the shepherds' visit to the manger in Bethlehem (and eight days after the Nativity of Our Lord), the Divine Infant was brought to the Temple to be circumcised. This was also the day on which He was officially given the name Jesus :
At the end of eight days, when [the Divine Infant] was circumcised, He was named Jesus, the Name given to Him by the Angel before He was conceived in the womb. -Lk 2:21
In the 13th century onwards, and even earlier outside of Rome, the Roman Church began celebrating January 1 as the Feast of the Circumcision. This feast day was later given the official title, in the General Roman Calendar, of The Circumcision of Our Lord and the Octave of the Nativity. The Church celebrated this day with great joy and solemnity in order to commemorate the day when Our Lord shed His Precious Blood for the very first time since His coming into the world at Christmas. And whereas the naming of Our Lord was originally celebrated in the liturgical calendar on the same day (January 1), the Church later decreed that a separate, special feast day be inserted into the liturgical calendar in honour of the Holy Name. This Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus was first celebrated on the Second Sunday after Epiphany for a long time, and then eventually moved by Pope St. Pius X to the Sunday between January 1 and 5 — or January 2 when there is no Sunday between these two dates. In places where the 1962 Roman Missal is still used today, this feast day is still observed on this date.
The Scriptures exalt the Holy Name of God to no end. The Old Testament is filled with references to the Divine Name, and nowhere is this clearer than in the psalter (the Book of Psalms). Many of the psalm verses exalting the Holy Name of God are well known since they have also passed into the various liturgical rites and blessings of the Roman Church. For example, before a Bishop imparts the final blessing at Holy Mass, he invokes the Divine Name by the expression:
Adjutorium nostrum in Nomine Domini, qui fecit caelum et terra (Our help is in the Name of the Lord, who made Heaven and earth).
In Sunday Vespers throughout the year, one of the antiphons in the psalmody also explicitly invokes the Holy Name:
Sit Nomen Domini benedictum in saecula (May the Name of the Lord be blessed for ever)
There are a myriad of references in the Old Testament and the Book of Psalms that glorify and honour God's Holy Name.
The Most Holy Name of Jesus is also exalted by the Saints in their writings and in their poetic hymnody as well, some of which have passed into the Divine Office. Perhaps the most famous is the hymn attributed to St. Bernard of Clairvaux, the hauntingly beautiful Jesu Dulcis Memoria:
My favourite verse in the hymn above is the following:
Nil canitur suavius,
nil auditur jucundius,
nil cogitatur dulcius,
quam Jesus Dei Filius
which is translated in the English poetic translation by Edward Caswall as:
No voice can sing, no heart can frame,
Nor can the memory find,
A sweeter sound than Jesus' Name,
The Saviour of mankind.
The Name Jesus in fact means Saviour or God [is] my salvation. Thus the Holy Name expresses beautifully the mission of the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity who became incarnate: He came to save man from sin. On Catholic works of art, including stained glass windows, altar frontals, priestly vestments, chalice veils, etc., the Most Holy Name is ever-present. It is often represented by the three-letter monogram IHS or JHS; for example, here, on this beautiful Roman chasuble:

It is not a coincidence, by the way, that the monogram is represented by three letters. This is a clear reference to the Divinity of Christ and the Three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity.
But where does the monogram IHS or JHS come from? There are two theories about this. The more common one is that these letters represent the first three letters of Jesus' Name in Greek. (Remember that the language used by the Catholic Church was initially Greek, before it officially became Latin). The name "Jesus" is written in Greek in this way:
Ιησους
Written in capital letters, this would give:
ΙΗΣΟΥΣ
Transcribed into Latin letters, we have:
IHSOUS or JHSOUS
Note that, in Latin, "I" and "J" are interchangeable letters. Thus, the first three letters would be:
IHS or JHS
So the monogram comes from the first three letters of Our Lord's Holy Name in Latinized Greek!
There is another theory as to the origin of these three letters in the monogram for the Holy Name of Jesus. This theory holds that these letters come from an expression in Latin
Iesus Hominus Salvator or Jesus Hominum Salvator
meaning: Jesus, the Saviour of Men. This expression clearly indicates the mission of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word: He became man in order to save man from the darkness of error and the death of sin. Jesus is truly The Saviour, the One outside of whom there is no salvation or freedom from eternal death.
The early Christians used an ancient symbol to denote themselves as disciples of Christ, a symbol which also highlights Our Lord's Holy Name as Saviour. The symbol was a fish (the Apostles were, after all, mostly fishermen by trade). The word for fish in Greek is:
Ιχθυς ( or in capitals: ΙΧΘΥΣ ).
In Latinized script, this would be: Icthus (ICTHYS in capitals).
The letters in the Greek word for fish were also a coded acrostic! They stood for the Greek expression:
Ιησους Χριστος Θεου Υιος Σωτηρ
Jesus Christ of God Son Saviour
Thus, in a corrected English word order: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour.

THE HOLY NAME AND THE HOLY SACRAMENT
Thus the Holy Name of Jesus is inseparable with His mission as Saviour of mankind. And from where does His salvation come? From its source, the source of every single grace ever given to men: the Cross! Because the Holy Eucharist is the Sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, made present sacramentally upon the Altar, it is common to see Hosts used at Mass depicted like the one featured at the top of this article. Although a Host need not have any special design on it (a plain one is fine), many manufacturers of Hosts — especially religious orders of nuns that made Hosts — were often inspired to put holy images on them. Some contain beautiful images of the Crucifixion, a Lamb of God, or other pictures that evoke the Sacrifice of Jesus. And among these things is the Holy Name, a clear reference to Christ's salvific work on the Cross. Thus many Hosts have a simple IHS (or JHS) imprinted on them.
One profound truth that we sometimes are not consciously aware of as Catholics when we assist at Holy Mass is that there is a deep connection between the Blessed Sacrament and the Holy Name. Ever since the Incarnation, and especially since the institution of the Last Supper which prefigures the Sacrifice of Calvary, the Name of Our Lord and His Eucharistic Presence are inseparable. Both of these devotions (devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and devotion to the Holy Name) focus in a very particular way on the need for reparation. Blasphemies and sacrileges are committed against the Blessed Sacrament and against the Holy Name on a daily basis, around the world. Our Lord's Name is often used in vain, and His Presence in the Blessed Sacrament is often ignored, abused, or even outright desecrated. Unworthy Holy Communions and irreverent Masses are not the exception in today's Church, alas! Rather, they appear to be the norm nowadays. And so it is necessary to make amends, to repair the damage and hurt inflicted on Our Lord by the unworthy use of His Holy Sacrament and His Holy Name.
In the Divine Praises that are recited or sung at Eucharistic Benediction, we say:
Blessed be His Holy Name...
Blessed be Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar
These are invocations of reparation to the Holy Name and to the Holy Sacrament, for the best way of repairing the hurt and offence caused against God's Name and Sacrament is to exalt them, by proclaiming them to be blessed.
But of all such prayers of reparation, perhaps the most powerful one (which is also associated with the Holy Face devotion), is the well known Golden Arrow Prayer. The English version goes as follows:
May the Most Holy, Most Sacred, Most Adorable,
Most Mysterious and Unutterable Name of God
be always praised, blessed, loved, adored and glorified,
in Heaven, on earth, and under the earth,
by all the creatures of God,
and by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ
in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
Amen.
And in Latin:
Sanctissimum, Sacratissimum, Adorabile,
Incomprehensibile et Ineffabile Nomen Dei
semper laudetur, benedicatur, ametur, adoretur et glorificetur,
in Caelo, in terra, et sub terra,
ab omnibus creaturis Dei,
et a Sacro Corde Domini Nostri Jesu Christi
in Sanctissimo Sacramento Altaris.
Amen.
The Golden Arrow Prayer highlights the sacredness of God's Most Holy Name, and invites all of God's creatures to praise, bless, love, adore, and glorify that Name. But the prayer especially invites reparation from the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament: that is, from the Eucharistic Heart of Our Blessed Lord in the Tabernacle and upon the Altar. What this shows, rather marvellously, is that the human nature of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament is constantly making reparation to God the Father for the sins committed by man against the Holy Name of God. God the Son, in His sacred humanity, is making amends to God the Father, and thus doing reparation for our sins. The Eucharistic Heart of Jesus is the primary and most important Reparer of man's sins.
But what about us? How do we make proper reparation for sins committed against God, against His Holy Name? We do so through the sacred humanity of Jesus Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament! There is no better place to pray the Golden Arrow Prayer, no better place to offer up that prayer in reparation to God for blasphemies against His Most Holy Name, than in the presence of the Most Holy Sacrament, present in the Tabernacle or upon the Altar. Never let a single moment of Eucharistic Adoration go to waste by failing to offer up prayers of reparation (especially the Golden Arrow Prayer) when you are kneeling or sitting before Our Lord's Real Presence!
But there is an even better opportunity for us to offer up such reparation, even better than when we are in silent Eucharistic Adoration. It is at the moment of Consecration during Holy Mass. As a Priest, when I hold the Precious Body of Christ between the thumbs and forefingers of my two hands, and raise His Eucharistic Flesh high above the Altar for Adoration by the faithful, I offer up the Body of God the Son (in His sacred humanity), to God the Father, in union with God the Holy Ghost: the most perfect Trinitarian offering that exists in this world! And I do so in reparation for all sins committed by mankind against the sanctity and sacredness of God.
When you are in the pews at Mass, at the moment of Consecration, and when that Consecrated Host is elevated for your Adoration, there is nothing better that you can do than to make an act of profound worship and reparation, so that God may be praised, blessed, loved, adored and glorified, and so that His Most Holy Name, the Holy Name of JESUS, may be given all the worship and glory that it deserves as the Name above all names (Philippians 2:9).
Jesus! God [is] my salvation. God the Saviour!
May the Most Holy, Most Sacred, Most Adorable, Most Mysterious and Unutterable Name of God....
Pray the Golden Arrow Prayer whenever you are in the presence of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament, and honour the Holy Name through the Holy Sacrament!
