In the Church’s Night Prayer, a very brief reading follows the Psalm. Think of it as a reverse of the situation at Mass. In the Hours, Psalms are primary, and readings are “responsorial.”
Tonight the verse is from one of the major Jewish prophets. In the context of the Christian, the “name we bear” is the title of Jesus, the anointed, the Christ, that is the designation given to us:
You are in our midst, O LORD,
your name we bear:
do not forsake us, O Lord, our God!(Jeremiah 14:9b, NABRE)
If last night’s reading emphasized the unity among within a human person, body and soul, tonight’s emphasizes our unity with Christ. It is fitting that on Friday, the day of the Passion, we ponder our closeness to the Lord. We take his name. We designate ourselves as “Christians.” Thus our fate is sealed and joined with his. We will carry our cross and we will suffer as well. However, we will rise from sleep tomorrow morning and we will begin a new day, and if we wish, with God’s grace, a new life.
