Regnum Christi Spirituality Center Uncle Eddy

Dear Kate,

Your resistance to pain is edifying.  I remember the strain we used to undergo in conditioning exercises for football, but judging from the descriptions provided in your last note, your basketball coach seems to have reached new heights of discomfort.  I hope it pays off in a successful season. Even if it doesn’t, however, you can use the physical demands of your workouts to help foster a successful eternity – both for you and for others. That’s right. As long as the suffering you experience comes as a part of your fulfilling God’s will (and being on the basketball team fits quite nicely under the umbrella of the duties of your state in life – you have a duty to develop your talents to the full), when you unite it to the sufferings endured by Christ for the sake of the Kingdom, they can take on a supernatural dimension, and become a source of grace and spiritual growth in your own life and in the life of those you pray for.  This doctrine, linked to what is traditionally known as “the communion of saints,” gave the martyrs their courage, and I don’t see why it can’t help you find even more meaning than you thought in your athletic endeavors. Take today’s saint, for example.

Arcadius fled the Romans who had initiated a horrible persecution of Christians in his native North Africa.  The city officials were having every alleged Christian dragged from their houses into the city square, where they were told to offer sacrifices to the state gods or die.  When they came to Arcadius’s house, they didn’t find him, but they found a relative of his, whom they took as a hostage until Arcadius would show himself. The saint heard that his cousin was suffering for his sake, so he boldly came out of hiding and presented himself to the judge.  His fearless denunciations of the pagan “gods” infuriated the magistrate, who ordered him to be slowly executed by severing off one of his members at a time. He was taken to the martyrs’ yard, where many other Christians had already run the final lap, and the executioners obeyed their orders.  First, they cut off his fingers, one by one. Then his hands and arms. Then they moved down to his toes, and his feet, his lower legs, then his thighs, until he was nothing but a stump of a man. With every chop, Arcadius proclaimed, “Lord, teach me your wisdom!” At the end, just before he died, he exclaimed, addressing himself to his severed limbs, “Happy members, you at last truly belong to God, being all made a sacrifice to Him!”  Then, addressing himself to the crowds who stood to marvel at his fortitude, he uttered his last words, “You who have been present at this bloody tragedy, learn that all torments seem as nothing to one who has an everlasting crown before his eyes. Your gods are not gods; renounce their worship. He alone for whom I suffer and die is the true God. To die for Him is to live.” And that, my sporting niece, is the attitude that can turn all of our sufferings into glorious, joyful triumphs.  

Sincerely, your Uncle Eddy

Uncle Eddy Introduces the Saints

Navigating today’s world is tough and all of us could use a nudge in the right direction. Figuring out the right path to take at work, at college, or in social situations is not always easy. Looking to the lives of the saints can give us the insights we need.

Written by Fr. John Bartunek, LC, Uncle Eddy’s Saint of the Day is a fictional series of letters written by a man who has been imprisoned for the Catholic Faith. Using the saints of the day as examples, Uncle Eddy pens a daily letter with spiritual advice to his many nieces and nephews.

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Alex Kucera

Atlanta

Alex Kucera has lived in Atlanta, GA, for the last 46 years. He is one of 9 children, married to his wife Karmen, and has 3 girls, one grandson, and a granddaughter on the way. Alex joined Regnum Christi in 2007. Out of the gate, he joined the Helping Hands Medical Missions apostolate and is still participating today with the Ghana Friendship Mission.

In 2009, Alex was asked to be the Atlanta RC Renewal Coordinator for the Atlanta Locality to help the RC members with the RC renewal process. Alex became a Group Leader in 2012 for four of the Atlanta Men’s Section Teams and continues today. Running in parallel, in 2013, Alex became a Team Leader and shepherded a large team of good men.

Alex was honored to be the Atlanta Mission Coordinator between 2010 to 2022 (12 years), coordinating 5-8 Holy Week Mission teams across Georgia. He also created and coordinated missions at a parish in Athens, GA, for 9 years. Alex continues to coordinate Holy Week Missions, Advent Missions, and Monthly missions at Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Cumming, GA.

From 2016 to 2022, Alex also served as the Men’s Section Assistant in Atlanta. He loved working with the Men’s Section Director, the Legionaries, Consecrated, and Women’s Section leadership teams.

Alex is exceptionally grateful to the Legionaries, Consecrated, and many RC members who he’s journeyed shoulder to shoulder, growing his relationship with Christ and others along the way. He knows that there is only one way, that’s Christ’s Way, with others!