Dear Wilma, I think you will find much more peace if you stop complaining about having to work to help pay for your school.  Let’s be realistic, first of all, then super-realistic.  Being realistic, you have to admit that most of your friends who don’t have to work to help pay for their school actually end up wasting a lot of time.  They take things for granted (most of them), and use their time and their resources irresponsibly, carelessly.  It’s human nature, so we need not be surprised (although you should do you best to help them take better advantage of their situation – for their own good and the good of the Kingdom).  And if you were in their position, you would probably end up wasting time too (although I would be here to prod you if you did).  Being super-realistic, however, I would like to remind you that our Lord and his Mother had to work as well.  They worked hard.  When Jesus was your age he worked full time.  So there must be some supernatural value in it.  If you are willing to prayerfully delve into the example of Christ, I am sure the Holy Spirit will give your soul plenty of light and strength in this regard.  Besides, hard work, physical labor done well, has been one of the saints’ favorite ways of winning hearts to God, so you have a wonderful chance to follow in their footsteps.  Take today’s saint for example. Winnoc was a British fellow.  As a young man he and a few friends took a trip to a newly founded monastery.  They went out of youthful curiosity, but the diligence and joy of the monks fired them with a desire to take the habit as well.  Soon Winnoc “shone like a morning star among the 150 monks who inhabited that sanctuary” as one biographer has put it.  When the monastery outgrew itself, St Winnoc was given charge of his original companions and sent to set up camp at a location farther out, in an area that was largely unevangelized.  They arrived, rolled up their sleeves, and when they weren’t praying, eating, or sleeping, they were working hard – physical labor, mind you, building up their church and their cells, plus a hospital for the sick and abandoned of the countryside.  Soon the monastery became a missionary headquarters, spreading Christ’s Kingdom throughout the region.  Besides his miracles, Winnoc’s most effective tactic for winning over the locals was serving them by his work.  Even when he was an old man he worked hard; the young neophytes used to sneak around the barns to catch a glimpse of the gray-haired saint plugging away at the hand-mill or repairing things. So you see, my dear niece, realistically, having to work is a blessing, and supernaturally speaking you are in excellent company as you toil away among the pots and pans.  Don’t let the devil try and convince you otherwise. God bless, Uncle Eddy

Dear Bert, Well, don’t get too worried about how things will work themselves out down the road; it’s good to plan ahead, but you should keep in mind that God may want things to turn out a bit differently than you think.  If that’s the case, stick with God’s suggestions and scrap your own plans – he’s got a much better track record.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that you shouldn’t apply to graduate schools and interview for jobs and all that good stuff, I’m just saying that every time you send off an application or finish an interview, you should conclude with a sincere and heartfelt “Thy will be done – not mine” in the depths of your soul.  He, after all, is the artist; we are just the paintbrushes.  Which reminds me a bit of today’s saint. Bertilla grew up in northern France, and as she came to know the ways of the world, she felt God calling her to leave it behind and dedicate herself exclusively to him and his Kingdom.  With the encouragement of her bishop, St Ouen, she entered the convent at a relatively young age (about your sister’s age, actually), and made rapid progress in the mysterious joys surrounding humility, purity, and a life of prayer.  When St Bathildis, Queen of the Franks, reestablished an abbey of nuns near the royal court, she asked Bertilla’s prioress to send a small group of fervent religious to give it a jumpstart, and St Bertilla was assigned to head up the team.  She ruled the abbey firmly, with strict discipline, but with such sweetness and charity that it swelled its ranks even more quickly than the convent she had left behind.  It attracted vocations from throughout Europe, in fact, including Queen Hereswitha, the widow of King Ethelhere of the East Angles, and even Queen Bathildis herself (once her husband had died and her son was old enough to govern), who learned the art of holiness under St Bertilla’s prudent hand. And that’s my point.  This little peasant girl ended her days as the Mother Superior of a large number of nuns, including two Queens.  I am certain that none of the three had planned for that!  So keep up your prayer life and get ready for whatever roller coaster ride our Lord sees fit to send you on, even as you responsibly and carefully fulfill your normal duties. Sincerely your uncle, Eddy

Dear Chuck, The distress in your last note caught my attention.  You say you are tempted to simply “give up” your non-academic commitments in order to be able to study sufficiently, not having enough time for both.  Hogwash.  You are feeling the pressure of midterms and suffering from the misuse of time.  If you examine how you organize your week you will see that you study inefficiently and give in to whims instead of following a self-disciplined schedule.  Be humble; don’t panic.  Go over exactly what you have to do in each class and in each one of your other commitments in order to achieve your goals in each (and if you have no goals, the first step is to make some).  Then plug all those things into your calendar for the coming month.  Then stick to it – and you and I both know that’s the hardest point.  Maybe today’s saint can be an inspiration for you. St Charles is one of those giants of the Church.  Born and raised in the area around Milan, he came from a wealthy and noble family, in an age when nobility and wealth made their presence known.  He spent his early years getting the best Renaissance education a man could get, and when his uncle became Pope Paul IV, he moved to Rome and became a member of the Papal court, being named a “Cardinal-Deacon.”  That meant that the Pope heaped responsibilities upon him, but he was not yet ordained to the priesthood.  And so, by the time he was 23 years old, his to-do list contained duties related to the following “non-academic commitments,” to use your term: Papal Legate of Bologna, Romagna, and the March of Ancona, and Papal Protector of Portugal, the Netherlands, the Catholic cantons of Switzerland, and the orders of St Francis, the Carmelites, the Knights of Malta, and others.  Additionally, he was given charge over the archdiocese of Milan (though the Pope forbade him from leaving Rome to tend to it personally), he had to govern his family affairs (no small task for Italian nobility), he patronized learning and the arts in Rome, and he kept up a healthy schedule of recreational and social activities (which was expected of every worthy Cardinal-Deacon).  That’s how he spent his early twenties.  Have you cause to complain, my dear nephew, in light of such an example?  Rather, I would say you ought to learn from him how to do more in less time, and do it better.  His “secret” was hardly secret.  It consisted of planning ahead, never rushing, practicing willful concentration on the task at hand (“do what you’re doing” as the old Latin saying goes: “age quod agis”), and just plain working hard.  Through it all, he kept his prayer life first: going to confession and celebrating Mass early every morning before taking on the tasks of the day. These simple habits served him well for the rest of his life, enabling him to infuse new vigor into the entire Catholic Church through his tireless efforts to conclude the Council of Trent and subsequently reform (in accordance with the Council’s indications) the Archdiocese of Milan (and the surrounding areas) from the clergy on down – a reform which has served as a model for conscientious pastors ever since.  It was never easy (he survived at least two attempted assassinations), but it filled him with energy, and filled the world with the light of Christ in an especially dark moment of Christendom’s trek. So, my young nephew, don’t be lazy, and don’t complain; rather, be disciplined, and keep first things first, remember the purpose of it all: seek first the Kingdom of God, and all these other things will be given you as well (cf. Matthew 6:33). Promptly yours, Uncle Eddy