Dear Don, Glad to hear that your “business” is doing so well, you’re a chip off the old entrepreneurial block.  Being able to pay your own way through school will free up some of your parents’ funds to help offset the educational costs of your less business-minded siblings.  One caveat, though (“caveat” means “a warning against certain acts or practices,” in case you were wondering – you may be good at making money, but your SAT scores were shameful): don’t keep all your money to yourself.  Greed is a powerful but sly operator, and the best way to defend against it is to discipline your own spending (by having a budget, for example – that just means deciding ahead of time how much money you will let yourself spend for all your different needs/wants) and to set aside an uncomfortable amount to support the works of the Church and those who are in greater need than yourself.  I say “uncomfortable” for a reason. If you let yourself get “comfortable” in your wealth, you will most likely end up disobeying your conscience in order to preserve or increase it. Just ask St Donnan and his fifty-two missionary companions. They founded a monastery on an island off the coast of Scotland (Donnan himself was an Irishman). They were all slaughtered by a band of robbers who corralled them into the dining hall and burned them alive, cutting down any would-be escapees with their swords.  They say that a wealthy woman who had previously used the island to pasture her plentiful flock of sheep put the robbers up to the evil task; she resented her economic loss caused by the monks. So use your newfound wealth wisely, lest it end up depleting your “treasure in heaven.” (Luke 12:33) With my prayers, your poor Uncle Eddy  

Dear Marie, So you won another scholarship.  You really are putting together an impressive résumé.  I guess congratulations are in order, so, congratulations… I have to admit, however, that I am still a bit concerned.  When you were growing up (you probably don’t remember this), you always needed a bit more attention than your siblings.  Somehow, you feared that if you did not excel at all the games and other activities, no one would like you. Is it possible that a smidgeon of this unfortunate vanity is still at work in you?  Please do take a look. Remember, God does not love you because you are so loveable, rather, you are so loveable because he loves you. It is not your talents (and, admittedly, they are many) that impress him; he is more interested in how you choose to use them – to win recognition for yourself, or to win souls for his Kingdom.  Take today’s saint, for instance (your namesake, by the way – few people know that St Bernadette’s real name was Marie-Bernard). Our Lady appeared to her at Lourdes, remember the story? Three times the Queen of Heaven, the Mother of God appeared to this 14-year-old, uneducated, French peasant girl. Talk about special honors! Talk about special “talents”!  Talk about high “achievements”! But then what happened? The saint spent the rest of her life in voluntary obscurity, not even present for the dedication of the famous Lourdes basilica. On the advice of her spiritual director, she entered the religious life, where she suffered chronic illnesses and frequent ridicule in the loneliness of her cell, accompanied only by her crucifix.  She concluded that Our Lady had used her like a broom, and now she was put back in the corner. It is an image to ponder. Aren’t your talents likewise gifts from God, given for a particular purpose? If you treat them thus, you will please him greatly, but if you hoard them for your own glory… Well, let’s just say that St Bernadette’s body remains incorrupt to this day, as beautiful now as it was when she died at the age of 35 – in other words, living God’s way yields lasting beauty; living any other way yields “dust and ashes.” (Sirach 10:9) Count on my prayers, Uncle Eddy  

Dear Hunny, I was encouraged to hear about the success of your Apologetics Workshop, but I am seriously concerned about your other news.  What good will it be to you or your Lord if you organize and run wonderful, well-attended Catholic events if they lead you into the sins of arrogance and self-righteousness?  I will have you remember that the only time Christ got mad was when he ran into hypocrites. I can just picture you at the Apologetics Workshop going on and on about the Scriptural evidence for the seven sacraments and the authority of the Magisterium, and then returning to your dorm room and giving the silent treatment to your poor roommates.  My dear niece, I admit that they sound like incorrigible characters, but you are a soldier of Christ! You don’t have to “like” them, but you do have to love them, serve them, forgive them, be Christ’s patience and kindness for them!  If you don’t, who will? And how will they come to believe? As our Lord tells us, what good will it do if we only greet our friends, only serve those who are pleasant to us?  Take a lesson from today’s saint. St Hunna married a nobleman who lived near today’s Franco-German border. She spent her days running their estate while Huno (her husband) was busy with public affairs.  But she always made time to do little favors for all the poor villagers, even to the point of washing their laundry. This is how she pleased God and extended his Kingdom. So if your spoiled roommates keep leaving their dirty clothes all over the suite, stop complaining and take a trip to the laundry room!  Keep up the good work. God bless. Uncle Eddy

Dear Lydia, I just read your essay “Why Life Ought to Be a Vacation.”  It really blew me away – into an almost uncontrollable rage, that is.  My dear niece, why are you trying to convince yourself that earth should be like heaven?  This brief span of years we are given is meant to be an opportunity to fight for Christ’s Kingdom, not to settle into the mindless bliss of epicurean mediocrity.   Earth is not heaven – get it? Earth is NOT heaven! You aren’t 15 anymore, but you have a lot to learn from Blessed Lydwina, who discovered her strange and wonderful vocation at that young age.  She was a lot like you: pert, pretty, fun. Then she got into an ice-skating accident, broke a rib, and ran into complications during her recovery. For the next thirty-eight years, she never left her sickroom.  Well, wait a minute. I have to qualify that. Her body never left the sickroom.  It starting having very odd symptoms – her flesh began to rot (which put an end to her good looks – they were marred by an ugly cleft that opened from the top of her forehead to the middle of her nose), she had agonizing headaches, constantly recurring fits of vomiting, unending fevers, maddening thirst, spasms of pain in every part of her body – it was as if her body were decaying in the grave, and she remained conscious to experience it.  At first, she felt utter repugnance at her suffering. But gradually she learned that God was asking her to suffer for the reparation of others’ sins. Her spiritual director visited her frequently, taught her to meditate on our Lord’s passion, and frequently brought her Holy Communion (her only food during her last 13 years). As she recognized and embraced her uncommon vocation, she began to add voluntary sufferings to the ones God had sent her (sleeping on boards instead of on a bed, for example).  God rewarded her by giving her powers of healing (healing others, of course), prophecy, and special vision (by which she visited the great Churches in Rome and Jerusalem, spent time with the saints and her guardian angel, and even helped our Lord himself carry his cross on his way to Calvary). For her last seven years of life, her acute pains prevented her from sleeping even a wink… I guess I let myself get carried away. The point here, my dear Lydia, is that each of us has a mission to complete during the few years of this earthly life, a mission that will definitely involve suffering and hardship of some kind or other – no escape from that.  If we don’t want to be frustrated, we have to expect it, and be glad that God gives us such opportunities to show him our love. So I suggest you entitle your next essay: “Why Christians Save Their Vacations for Heaven.” Gotta go. Love, Uncle Eddy