The "Name" Prayer

Deus, in adjutorium meum intende. Domine, ad adjuvandum me festina.
O God, come to my assistance. O LORD, make haste to help me.

   I mentioned yesterday that the above prayer was from Psalm 69.  There is a lot about this prayer that bears explaining.  It is a short Psalm, a prayer in persecution, one of those which David prayed when his son, Absolom, had persecuted him.

   "Unto the end, a psalm for David, to bring to remembrance that the Lord saved him.
   O God, come to my assistance; O LORD, make haste to help me.
   Let them be turned backward, and blush for shame that desire evils to me:
   Let them be presently turned away, blushing for shame, that say to me: *'Tis well, 'tis well.
   Let all that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee; and let such as love thy salvation, say always: The Lord  
   be magnified."
              * refers to those who glory in their triumph over us and congratulate themselves

   Most of the words in this Psalm are also found in Psalms 34 and 39. They seem to have been prayed in case of any danger.

   The Psalms are also seen as prophetic of events in the New Testament. David foresaw, for instance, that Christ would pray for the safety of his natural and mystical body and be heard. The Church prays for aid; and David, or any of the just, lays before God particular wants.

   What I had not realized, although, as I mentioned before, the second line of Psalm 69 is said every day in every hour of the Divine Office, is that these words are called the "Name Prayer." 1 Thessalonians 5:17, says, "Pray without ceasing."  Joel 2:32, in the Old Testament, and Acts 2:21 and Romans 10:13 in the New, tell us "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the LORD shall be saved."

   A newspaper published periodically by the Transalpine Redemptorist Monks on Papa Stronsay Island off Scotland, in its latest edition, just happened to treat of this subject. This prayer was so special that it was used by the earliest of the Desert Fathers of Egypt in the first centuries of the Church. It was brought out to the West in the late 4th century and began to be practiced by monasteries.

  It is called "The Name Prayer" because it is an invocation of the NAME of God. Its purpose is to fulfill the words of the Holy Ghost, "Pray without ceasing. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the LORD shall be saved." At some point the Desert Fathers had taken this portion of the Psalm so that they could "pray without ceasing."  They said it while working, when they woke during the night, always present in their minds.

   It spread from Egypt to Europe, spread from Marseilles by monks and writings of St. John Cassian. St. Patrick learned it and it was soon said throughout Ireland. It began to be incorporated into monastic rules.
St. Benedict included it in his rule. For 1,400 years the Church throughout the whole world has incorporated it into the Divine Office. Many of the Saints chanted the prayer.

   Abba Isaac is the ancient Desert Father who told St. John Cassian about their praying this. ".....And so for keeping up continual recollection of God this pious formula is to be ever set before you. 'Incline unto my aid O God. O LORD, make haste to help me'.....This is the prayer that embraces all the feelings which can be implanted in human nature, and can be fitly and satisfactorily adapted to every condition."

   It would seem that there really isn't  a "Name" in the prayer. Truly, though, it invokes the NAME of the Blessed Trinity. In the Old Testament, the NAME of God was not used. Out of reverence for the Holy Name of God, the Church substitutes the word LORD. As the Prophet Joel invoked this Personal, unutterable Name of God, so do we, as repeated in the New Testament, in the Acts of the Apostles and by St. Paul.

   There is a long instruction from Abba Isaac to St. John Cassian in 399 A.D. I will end with the last several lines of his exhortation.

   "We must then ceaselessly and continuously pour forth the prayer of this verse, in adversity that we may be delivered, in prosperity that we may be preserved and not puffed up.
   Let the thought of this verse, I tell you, be turned over in you breast without ceasing.
   Whatever work you are doing, or office you are holding, or journey you are going, do not cease to chant this.
   When you are going to bed, or eating, and in the last necessities of nature, think on this.
   This thought in your heart may be to you a saving formula, and not only keep you unharmed by all attacks of devils, but also purify you from all faults and earthly stains, and lead you to that invisible and celestial contemplation, and carry you on to that ineffable glow of prayer, of which so few have any experience.
   Let sleep come upon you still considering this verse, till having been molded by the constant use of it, you grow accustomed to repeat it even in your sleep.
   When you wake let it be the first thing to come into your mind, let it anticipate all your waking thoughts, let it when you rise from your bed send you down on your knees, and thence send you forth to all  your work and business, and let it follow you about all day long.
   This you should think about, according to the Lawgiver's charge, 'at home and walking forth on a journey, sleeping and waking.'
   This you should write on the threshold and door of your mouth, this you should place on the walls of your house and in the recesses of your heart so that when you fall on your knees in prayer this may be your chant as you kneel, and when you rise up from it to go forth to all the necessary business of life it may be your constant prayer as you stand."

   Surely then, this is another way to Practice the Presence of God in our lives. Today especially we pray that "in our adversity we may be delivered." We face persecutions and dangers to body and soul. What better prayer to have ready on our lips.

Deus, in adjutorium meum intende. Domine, in adjuvandum me festina.  
O God, come to my assistance. O LORD, make haste to help me.