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Solemnity of the Nativity of John the Baptist, Cycle B
June 24, 2018
Terranova Hermitage
What’s in a Name?
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
Names
Both my parents were born in Italy, so when my brother was born here in the US, it was tradition that he be named after my paternal grandfather. So James or Giacomo was his name.
Four years later, I came along and I was named after my maternal grandfather. So Nicholas or Nicolo was my name.
Then came my sister, and we went back to my maternal grandmother for her name Frances or Francesca.
That was the naming process for many of us older folks. Naming our children is an opportunity to connect them with loved ones or with favorite saints or with people in our cultural heritage.
Or it is an opportunity to select a completely new name and make your child very special in that way. Naming children is a wonderful opportunity.
Jewish Naming
We hear about the naming of a child in today’s Gospel.
The Jewish custom in Jesus’ day allowed even neighbors to have a say in the naming. That may sound strange to us, but to them a new child was seen as a gift for both the family and the entire village.
Their custom also dictated that the first son would be named after the father. So, it is natural that the villagers in today’s Gospel expect this little boy to be named after his father Zechariah.
What they don’t know is that an angel has told Elizabeth and Zechariah that their son is to be named John. Apparently, God sees this child as special and this gets expressed in a special name given to him directly by God.
Conclusion 1: Call by Names
One conclusion that I draw from this is the importance of using the name of those we are speaking to or speaking about.
This may sound like a no-brainer, an obvious statement. Maybe it is, but I think it may be timely to be reminded of basics like this.
So, we call others by their name: James, Meghan, Sharon, Gregory – using the first or given name whenever that is possible and appropriate. Making an effort to learn the name of another person, maybe a server at a restaurant or a clerk at the supermarket, our trying to know the name and then using it shows respect.
It is a basic way of recognizing the uniqueness of another person. It is a way of saying that they are special.
I find today’s first reading very valuable on this point. Isaiah senses that God called him from even before his birth.
He says: “The Lord called me from birth, from my mother’s womb he gave me my name.”This is a beautiful statement regarding the value of our life and of our relationship with God even before we were born.
Of course, it’s usually our parents who give us our name, but I would say that they do this on behalf of God. In other words, God names us through the thoughtful and caring naming we receive from our parents.
This naming makes us, like Isaiah, special, unique persons. That’s why I say it is important to address others by their name whenever that is possible and appropriate.
Conclusion 2: Don’t Call Names
The other conclusion I want to draw today is that we should not call others names.
This again may sound like an obvious statement, but I think it is timely to be refreshed on this basic principle. Now, I am not thinking of affectionate nicknames that family members or close friends might give to one another.
I am talking about diminishing names, names that put us down. This was an important lesson that my parents really tried to drill into us.
Mom and Dad really got on us if we called somebody “Fatso”or “Loser”or “Dumbbell”or the N-word. They simply forbade us to call other people names.
On a human level, calling other people names is immature behavior. And on a spiritual level, it is simply disrespectful.
So, we need to avoid name-calling and we need to respect the life, dignity, and the personhood of others – no matter what. We need to remember that, like us, they “are called by God from birth and given a name from their mother’s womb.”
Conclusion
To conclude: on this special day of John the Baptist’s birth and naming, we are challenged to learn and call others by the name and to refrain from name-calling in its pejorative sense.
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