ASK FATHER CHAS - EP3
What Is The True Name of God?
So the Jews don't pronounce the Tetragrammaton. And you're like "the tetra-what?" Well, the Tetragrammaton literally means four letters referring to the four consonants of the personal name of God in the Bible. Yahweh.
I tremble even to say that. So that would be YHWH, so not using that personal name of God developed into a tradition, because the Jews admirably considered it too holy to be uttered.
After all, the second of the Ten Commandments is you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. And so, to avoid even the risk of doing so, they did away with using Yahweh altogether, and began referring to the name or Hashem in Hebrew. They would also use other titles to refer to God, such as Adonai, meaning Lord or Elohim, which is the generic term for God as opposed to his personal name of Yahweh, Blessed be He.
And out of respect for the Jewish tradition and our own reverence for God's holy name, the Vatican, in a 2008 letter to the bishops on the Name of God, mentioned that the Tetragrammaton not be used in Catholic liturgies and prayers, but that Adonai or Lord be used in its place. So in light of that directive, I generally avoid using the personal name of God as a sign of reverence for his holy name.
But as you allude to in your question, we should reverently proclaim and invoke the Holy Name of Jesus frequently, as long as we do so with reverence. Right. In fact, let's end this response by doing just that, calling upon the holy name of Jesus. Jesus, Jesus. Jesus most holy name of Jesus, have mercy on us. God bless you.
ALL ROADS CATHOLIC MEDIA
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