The Lord has called me from the womb; from the womb of my mother, he has been mindful of my name. (Is 49:1)
יְהוָה מִבֶּטֶן קְרָאָנִי מִמְּעֵי אִמִּי הִזְכִּיר שְׁמִי׃
Dominus ab utero vocavit me, de ventre matris meae recordatus est nominis mei.
κύριος ἐκ κοιλίας μητρός μου ἐκάλεσεν τὸ ὄνομά μου.
God calls each of us by name (Is 43:1; Is 45:3), He knows best what it sounds like… In the biblical tradition, a NAME is more than just a way of calling another person. It expresses the essence of a person, i.e. what is deepest in this person. God knows my name and speaks it with the greatest tenderness…
In today’s reading, the prophet Isaiah reminds us that the Lord has remembered my name from the moment of conception. It is the primary name, touching the depths of identity… This name remains unchanged throughout life, although it may be blurred by our history and various events… It may happen that during our lives we receive many “names”, some of them are given to us by other people, and some we give to ourselves… But today God reminds me of the deepest name that perhaps no one knows except me and the LORD. What does it sound like? How does God pronounce my name?
