THE NAME OF JESUS IS HONEY IN THE MOUTH, IT IS A DELECTABLE PEACE IN THE HEART

In these times of quarantine and restrictions, when our normal routines and plans are very much upset, and when our usual pleasures are often impossible, we may have recourse to the peace afforded by the Holy Name of Jesus to sooth our upset and we may enjoy Its sweetness as a means of sating our afflicted appetites. 

The following are snippets from a sermon on the Holy Name by St Bernard of Clairvaux, all of which may be sustenance for your soul, and may inspire you as to how you may employ the Holy Name for your good: 

"The Name of Jesus is Light, and Food, and Medicine. It is Light, when It is preached to us; It is Food, when we think upon It; It is the Medicine that soothes our pains when we invoke It...It is also Food. Art thou not strengthened, as often as thou thinkest of this Name? 

What is there that so restores the wearied faculties, strengthens virtue, gives vigor to good and holy habits, and fosters chastity? Every food of the soul is dry, that is not steeped in this unction; it is insipid, if it be not seasoned with this salt...JESUS is honey to the mouth, and music to the ear, and gladness to the heart.

It is also Medicine. Is any one among you sad? Let but Jesus come into his heart, and the mouth echo Him, saying Jesus! 

Was there ever a man, that, hearing this saving Name, could keep up that common fault of hardness of heart, or drowsiness of sluggishness, or rancor of soul, or languor of sloth? 

If any one, perchance, felt that the fountain of his tears was dry, did it not gush forth more plentifully than ever, and flow more sweetly than ever, as soon as he invoked the Name of Jesus? 

When we were tossed to and fro by perplexing doubts, did not the evidence of what was right burst on us as we called upon the Name of light? 

When we were discouraged, and well nigh crushed, by adversity, did not our heart take courage, when our tongue uttered the Name of help? All this is most true; for all these miseries are the sicknesses and faintings of our soul, and the Name of Jesus is our Medicine.

There is nothing which so restrains the impulse of anger, calms the swelling of pride, heals the wound of envy, represses the insatiability of luxury, smothers the flame of lust, quenches the thirst of avarice, and dispels the fever of uncleanliness — as the Name of Jesus. For when I pronounce this Name, I bring before my mind the Man, who, by excellence, is meek and humble of heart, benign, sober, chaste, merciful, and filled with everything this is good and holy, nay, who is the very God Almighty — whose example heals me, and whose assistance strengthens me. I say all this, when I say Jesus."

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You may read this sermon in full, and the rest of Bernard of Clairvaux's sermons on the Song of Songs in, Talks on the Song of Songs.