May 12

Palm Sunday

God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a Name which is above every name: that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow. Philippians 2:9, 10.

BOWING at the Name of Jesus was the habit of the Church in olden times. "I remember," says Dr. Monsell, "well how, in a country parish I held, the oldest and simplest-minded of the poor bowed their heads whenever the sacred Name was spoken. It is an act of homage to the Name which is above every name, at which every knee should bow. If the Jews hushed their voices and spake not one mysterious name of God, should not Christians be as reverential and cautious in their use of that precious Name they hold so dear? With me it has become, thank God, such a habit that I cannot even write the Name without an almost involuntary reverence. I once had a touching proof of the use of such habits afforded me by the deathbed of a parishioner. My last visit to his room found him, as his nurse thought, insensible. He opened not his eyes when I spoke, nor by the answer of the least pressure acknowledged the taking of his chilled hand in mine. Yet when I knelt and prayed beside him, and at the close of my prayer uttered the sacred Name, even from the pillow his head rose gently to salute it, and thus show that the consciousness of its presence was before him, even in the shadow of death. It was like a monition to me from the confines of another world, ever by my practice and teaching to train those committed to my care in reverence of the Name"

Of wondrous love; Name all other names above; Name at which must every knee Bow in deep humility.