Thought to Ponder: Do you “Hallow His Name”
“Father hallowed be thy Name” How little there is to say once we have said this. And how much is said in mere cant. We have so many pious phrases that are utterly without genuine reverence for “God.” Religious chastity and silence go well together. Let us resume the practice of giving names to life and to things. I have been a mere number long enough to know what it means to be nameless and what effect it has on life. As long as life has no name, or at least none it honors, people and things will continue to lose their identity in the dreadful regimentation and anonymity into which we have sunk. Life has a sensitive nervous system through which everything is connected. Since the name of “God” is no longer the first and foremost of all names in the land and the voice of the people, then everything else that was once precious and prized has lost its name and been subjected to false and falsifying labels. The cliché, the label, the uniform, the slogan, the ‘dominant trend of the masses”—these are our rulers. And the pity the one who dares to differ, to proclaim his own thoughts or use his own name. Prayer is our way to freedom, and education in the method of prayer is the most valuable service that can be given to mankind. It makes it possible for the temple and the alter to occupy again their rightful place, and for humanity to humble itself and measure its responsibilities in the name of “God.”
(Magnificat