Addressing Christ by the proper titles

After reading with great interest the letter An Appeal To All Archpriests (February 27), I can only agree with its contents. But if I may, I would like to humbly add a further appeal to the Xirka ta' l-Isem Imqaddes t'Alla whose work is to be greatly commended.

How about launching an education campaign at the top echelons of the Church to start addressing Jesus Christ by His proper glorious name and refrain from the wrong practice (though seemingly with good intent and innocence), through which He is attributed the childish and immature title of Bambin from the Italian word Bambino (small baby/child)? As tradition has it, Malta is the only Christian country that uses this practice and it is granted that "old habits and mentalities die hard".

In the Bible, Jesus was a baby only once and now He has been given the name above all names, where again in the Bible His name Jesus Christ means "The chosen one with the anointed power of God". He is our healer, provider, protector, victor, saviour, love, mercy, grace, justice, mediator and intercessor and everything to us true Christians. He is the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.

This education should start from their Excellencies the Archbishops and down to most of the clergy and laity who like using Bambin. We must understand that when we use the proper name of God Almighty and His Son, we are imparting power, because there is power in the name of Jesus. Imagine going to one of the Archbishops and instead of addressing Him as Excellency he is addressed by the cheapest and lowest of titles. That would be a shameful lack of respect and honour indeed. In a likewise manner we should not be ashamed of giving Jesus the titles He deserves and do our utmost to go against wrong popular traditions, beliefs and customs.

My appeal is to wake up and set a good example so that people in general start to truly understand the basics of our faith and return to their Christian roots. When we use the proper titles of our Lord and Saviour we are showing people in general and Christians in particular what He has done for us. In this way people understand who is the God we serve and what great promises abide in His will for us.

We are not only imparting a babyish and immature mentality that may even reflect on us as being ignorant and immature in our faith when we refer to Jesus as Bambin but we would be also doing a gross injustice to the Redemptive and Salvivic nature of our Lord. We must not only believe in God but most importantly believe God in what He says in His Word and address Him with the titles He deserves.