What’s in a name? Our names are core to our identity.  In this graduation season, graduates, their families and friends wait with anticipation to hear the name of the graduate announced and to celebrate that moment.   I am named after my grandmothers Mary and Lena, and I often rely on the strength and wisdom they modeled during their lives.  When naming my daughters, I reflected carefully about the meaning their names will have throughout their lives.  And when they could exercise their own agency by selected their confirmation names, we had rich discussions about lives of saints.

The power of a name is a theme in today’s readings.  In Acts we learn about the teachings of Apollos who established from the Scriptures that Christ is Jesus.  And in today’s gospel from John, Jesus is preparing the disciples for the future when he returns to his father.  He teaches that they can pray directly to God in the name of Jesus.  He says to the disciples:  "Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. Until now you have not asked anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.”  What a simple yet profound lesson.

The name Jesus binds us together in our identity and in our humanity.  Naming ourselves as Christians declares our faith.  We have a touchstone for our values.  It feels like such a gift to be reawakened about the name of Jesus.  There is great responsibility with the promise from Jesus:  ask you and will receive.  I pray for the grace to trust in the love of Jesus and of God.  What a wonderful gift in this Easter season.