Ginepro ~ Thomas Aquinas

St. Thomas Aquinas

I recently learned that I should pick a name for my confirmation. I guess it was in good time that I only now realized this. Had I been worried about it for the past several months, I would have over-thought the issue.

But I learned this one evening, went to bed and awoke in the middle of the night. I spent two hours in prayer, unable to fall back to sleep. In prayer, I contemplated the Luminous Mysteries, and when I got to *the Transfiguration* it came to me out of the blue (or blackness of 3am in the morning) that Transfiguration would be a marvellous confirmation name.

But... perhaps a little to marvellous. I love to contemplate the Transfiguration, especially in contrast to the Agony in the Garden. In the Transfiguration, Christ is revealed as GOD! in all his unseeable brightness. In Gesthemene, Christ is revealed as human, in all his unbearable sorrow.

I began to consider the name Transfiguration ~ Gethsemene. Pretty cool. But... still. I wanted a confirmation name that would feel personal. And that is best found in a person. So I prayed. And prayed. I emptied my mind of wants. I let go of my desire, my ego, popular saints and neat names... and it came to me.

In the stories of the Little Flowers of St. Francis, no brother speaks to me with more charm than Brother Ginepro. Analyzed as autistic, mentally deficient and even the 'fool' of St. Francis, Ginepro takes humility to a unprecedented level! And despite his labels, what I see is someone who loves humility and the impoverished spirit so much that he refuses to even think very far into his plan to love God. Yet somehow, his love of Christ in others turns out to be far more effective than he could ever have planned. Here is one well known story:

HOW BROTHER JUNIPER GAVE ALL THAT HE HAD TO THE POOR

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

Brother Juniper was so full of pity and compassion for the poor, that when he saw anyone poor or naked he immediately took off his tunic, or the hood of his clock, and gave it to him. The guardian therefore laid an obedience upon him not to give away his tunic or any part of his habit. A few days afterwards, a poor half-naked man asked an alms of Brother Juniper for the love of God, who answered him with great compassion: "I have nothing which I could give thee but my tunic, and my superior has laid me under obedience not to give it, nor any part of my habit, to anyone. But if thou take it off my back I will not resist thee." He did not speak to a deaf man; for the begger forthwith stripped him of his tunic, and went off with it. When Brother Juniper returned home, and was asked what had become of his tunic, he replied: "A good man took it off my back, and went away with it." And as the virtue of compassion increased in him, he was not contented with giving his tunic, but would give books, or clocks, or whatever he could lay his hands on, to the poor. For this reason the brethren took care to leave nothing in the common rooms of the convent, because Brother Juniper gave away everything for the love of God and to the glory of his name.

Then there is St. Thomas Aquinas, who I first heard about from a philosophy and religion teacher in college. I was unable to hear the message then- as I was unaccepting of Christianity. But I remembered the name and the fact that this professor admired Thomas Aquinas. Twenty-some years later, I read GK Chesterton's "The Dumb Ox" and loved it. And while Chesterton is no reliable source on Buddhism or other religions, he portrays Thomas Aquinas in wonderful dimension.

The morning after my prayers, I woke up to realize that it was St. Thomas Aquinas' feastday. His name had also 'come to me' in the night, along with Brother Ginepro.

I called my priest and asked him if we could hyphenate. Fr. V obliged. :)

Another reason Ginepro is special to me is the translation of his name. Apparently Ginepro means "juniper". My mother used to call me Juniper as a nickname. There was no association for her as a Catholic-hating German Lutheran. But... God works in mysterious ways.

So my confirmation name will be Ginepro-Thomas Aquinas. I ask them to pray for me and my family, and also to pray for the preparation of my path toward the Eucharist.