"When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, 'Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.'" Luke 1:41-42

A woman smiles at her husband William as she looks at the young, baby boy nursing at her breast. "He's beautiful, isn't he?"
The young man, tall and lanky with pale hair, looks at his wife lying in the hospital bed, crucifix above her head of curly, red hair, and freckled face. William looks at the little baby, looks at him suck away like he has never eaten before in his life. He looks at the head that seems larger than it should be. He looks at the bald head, at the tiny feet and hands, frowns and asks, "Will he always look like that, Kathy?"
The young woman laughs lightly, and answers, "No, of course not… What did you think? That he would get as tall as you and still look like a baby?"
"No," he protests uselessly, "All I meant was… Well, look at his head. Isn't it a little large?"
"Babies look like that," she answers. "Don't worry about it. He'll look better, like the babies you see on TV, soon enough. Just thank God that you have him."
William looks at his wife and child on the rickety hospital bed. He sees the Crucifix on the wall is just a little crooked. He reaches over Kathleen's head and straightens it.
"I was thinking that Thomas would be a good name," the young woman says, looking up at her husband.
"I think that Ivan would be better," he answers, a little jest in his voice.
"Now wouldn't that be the silliest thing to call a child. Why would you name him Ivan, anyway? I can give you a reason for Thomas, but what reason do you have for Ivan?"
"Well, I don't know… I think it sounds good. Why would we call him Thomas, just so we can call him Tommy?"
"I want to name him after St. Thomas Aquinas."
"Why? I heard all he did was write a great, big book."
"St. Thomas was a great man who could explain God, the hardest thing there is to explain. I want Thomas to be able to do that, and be a holy man like St. Thomas at the same time."
"I guess your reasoning is better that mine," William says. "As always," he adds wryly.
"Of course it is," she answers, holding young Thomas up for his father.
"He will be a great man," the young man says, taking his son gently.
"I don't care if he's great," his wife answers, "so long as he's a holy man."

ON TO PART II