January is the month celebrating the Holy Name of Jesus. It is a month of seeing, of recognition, of friendship, of love. For only with a clear vision of reality can we choose the Way to Heaven, the Truth of our world, and Life everlasting.
My novel, The Music of the Mountain, takes place in the month of January, and as I plotted the days and weeks I looked at the face of a calendar with squares marking time disappearing. In the course of this month, the Feast of the Epiphany (the sixth) grows into a tide of epiphanies, revealing Jesus, the Son of God, and in this “face-time” we can see him, who he was, is, and ever will be. And as we look upon the holy face, we know him. We recognize him and he recognizes us, smiling.
For with our time and our words and our love, all embodied in daily, hourly, prayer, we have invited him into our hearts, to sit with us in our present moment, encourage us to face the next, and recollect those of the past, the losses and the loves. We live the truth, calling on the Holy Name, Jesus, breathing him in and out as we go about our day. We witness to him with moments of remembrance, praying Jesus my Lord, I thee adore, teach me to love thee more and more. For it is this time between morning prayer and evening prayer, this time of temptation and trial, of tedium and testing, that we see more clearly his Holy Face.
If we remember to see. If we remember to say. If we remember to listen and to love.
For he sees us then; he speaks to us then; he listens and loves us. It is then we know joy.
And so as we travel through January, through the gospels of the boy in the temple, the baptism by John, the changing of the water to wine, the healing of the centurion’s son, we grow in grace. We pray the Holy Name and see the Holy Face and know that life wins over death in this precious and glorious journey through time given to each one of us.
January recalls death, remembering the holocaust of abortion and the killing of unborn children, the holocaust of World War II and the genocide of Jews. We mourn and weep, just like Rachel weeping for her children.
January is a dark month, with short days and long nights, but we also see signs of spring, a path toward the light. We reach for the light in January, preparing to meet Ash Wednesday, live through Lent, walk alongside in the Passion, and arrive at the Resurrection of Our Lord on Easter.
In January we hear the faint melody of angels singing, just as in The Music of the Mountain. Storms buffet, cold engulfs, darkness threatens. Yet in the distance the angels sing, and day by day, as we pray his Name and see his Face, we draw closer to the music of light and life, so that soon we sing with angels and the heavenly host, praising our God of love, life, and light.
Christine Sunderland
Christine Sunderland 