BECAUSE YOUR NAMES ARE WRITTEN IN HEAVEN

Jb 42,1 -3.5-6.12-17; Ps 118; Lk 10,17-24
6 OCTOBER

Jesus never allowed illusion and deception to enter the hearts of his disciples. He always enlightened them with the splendour of his eternal truth. The following of Jesus is not in miracles, but in humility and meekness. It is in the cross.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’ Then I will declare to them solemnly, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers’ (Mt 7,21-23). Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay everyone according to his conduct (Mt 16,24-27).

Saint Paul places charity as the only way to be pleasing to God and to be able to write the personal name in heaven. He excludes even alms from this finality.

If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (1Cor 13,1-7).

It is easy to fall into exaltation, pride and illusion: “Since I can do great things, I am saved, I am perfect and I am a good disciple of Jesus”. Christ the Lord does not think so. The names are written in the heavens and remain written, until the disciples remain in the Word of Christ the Lord and live it as their Master lived the Word of the Father: in the humility of the heart and in meekness, pouring on it their own blood.

The seventy (-two) returned rejoicing, and said, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name.” Jesus said, “I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky. Behold, I have given you the power ‘to tread upon serpents’ and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” At that very moment he rejoiced (in) the holy Spirit and said, “I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.” Turning to the disciples in private he said, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”

Is there a sure way so that today our name can be written in the skies? We do know one way and it is the safest of all, safer than the same charity, indicated as an infallible way by St. Paul. Our way is the inscription of Christ in the hearts of men. Whoever writes the heart of Christ in the hearts of men will have his name written in the heavens. Whoever does not write the name of Christ in the hearts of men, he will not have written even his name in the heavens. He might even live of great charity. But he does not save it. Charity has only one purpose. Being used by us as ink to write the name of Jesus in everyone’s heart.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints, help Christians to write the name of Jesus in their hearts.