My newest grandchild was born Monday afternoon. He was named Xavier. Now thats a strong and bold name. He should take the Griffiths surname into yet another generation on our branch of the family tree.
A name starting with an X has mystique. Imagine starting a child to print his name. X should ensure a quick start simply crossing lines. And, in script, its a letter all to itself and not one to easily connect to the next letter.
Weve known about Xaviers gender and his name for a long time, but because his mom and dad, our son and daughter-in-law live in Tulsa, Okla., we were not around for the pregnancy. His delivery was induced a week early because the doctors husband faces critical cancer treatment in the coming week when the natural delivery could have taken place. That gives a different perspective to issues of life.
This is our second grandson and fourth grandchild. It was only 18 days before, on Valentines Day, that our grandson, Ezra, was born in Phoenix to our daughter and son-in-law who live in Avondale. We are not used to names with Xs and Zs. We fired off an e-mail within a couple hours to dozens of friends and relatives and basked in the warm wishes that came back. All will be cut and pasted for posterity.
Xavier, of course, conjures St. Francis Xavier (1506-52), the Catholic Jesuit missionary from the Basque region in Spain, who was known as the Apostle to the Indies and has been regarded as the first and the greatest Jesuit missionary. His groundbreaking work in India and Indonesia was followed with founding a robust Jesuit mission in
Japan. The last 11 years of his life was in that Far East missionary work. One reference book said St. Francis Xavier possessed both profound mysticism and common sense. It was said he evangelized more people to Christianity since St. Paul.
And weve visit the stately Mission San Xavier del Bach, the White Dove of the Desert, along Interstate 19 south of Tucson and completed in 1797.
Xavier is the name of the Catholic girls college preparatory school in Phoenix, which consistently ranks among the best in the nation by all sorts of indicators.
Some years ago, when our family visited the Field of Dreams, where the Kevin Costner movie was filmed in 1988, outside of Dyersville, Iowa, we took time to visit the Basilica of Saint Xavier there. One of just 52 Catholic basilicas in the U.S., it is the only one standing outside of a metropolitan area. With its two 200-foot towers and 64 stained glass windows, the majestic basilica was completed in 1888 and still waits for a pope to visit.
Our little Xavier was born as the 9th-ranked Xavier University Musketeers sits atop the Atlantic 10 basketball conference, with a 13-1 record and 25-4 overall. Maybe Xavier will be NCAA champion this year.
So there is a lot in the name of a grandson we have yet to hold and watch. He came home today, a day after his birth. May Xavier have long and wonderful days on earth and is a wonderful force and instrument for good. May life for him be X-ceptional, X-citing and X-cellent.
