Wednesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
(Luke 11:1-4)
With Halloween approaching we might want to reflect on the first petition in the Lord’s Prayer: “hallowed be your name.” The word Halloween comes from a form of hallowed. It is actually short for all hallows even, or the eve of all saints. American Catholics have a sense of this meaning since we are obligated to attend mass the next day, the Feast of All Saints.
Obviously then, “hallowed” is connected with sanctity. Indeed, it is an ancient way of saying “holy.” When we pray “hallowed be your name,” we express our wish that God’s name be reverenced throughout the world. Here a name is more than a way to call something or somebody; rather, it means one’s fame or reputation. We can look at two famous Shakespearean quotes to appreciate the difference. In Romeo and Juliet the heroine downplays the importance of a name when she tells her lover, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by another name would smell so sweet.” The character Cassio in Othello captures more the biblical idea of name when he speaks of reputation, “Reputation, reputation, reputation! Oh I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself...”
When the world calls upon God with reverence – our petition here – it will first recognize God as father. More than that, it also sees God as deserving of awe and absolute attention.
