Regnum Christi Spirituality Center Uncle Eddy

Dear Wally,

Swamped again, eh?  You always do this.  I know, I know, my nagging you about your incorrigible expertise at procrastination doesn’t help one bit.  But maybe if I keep nagging you’ll finally decide to pay attention.  But that will have to be at the beginning of the next trimester, after your current stress has abated.  In the midst of your “colossal heap of super-urgent agenda items” under which you find yourself “suffocating unbearably and dying a slow death by over commitment asphyxiation”, as you so bombastically put it (by the way, isn’t it redundant to use “suffocating” and “asphyxiation” in the same sentence?), I do have a thought that may help.

Here it is: DON’T SKIMP ON YOUR PRAYER COMMITMENTS.  Christ is not aloof from your current predicament.  He is the one that wants to help you overcome your evil habit of procrastination (a fancy word for laziness, if you ask me), and he is also the one who can steer you through the stormy seas that will buffet you for the next ten days or so.  But if you don’t connect with him in prayer, he won’t be able to do either one.  Don’t take my word for it, take the word – or example, rather, of today’s saint.

This fellow was a leather worker and bookbinder before he fell under the holy spell of St Cuthbert and joined the famous monastery at Lindisfarne.  From there he went to the Island of Fame off the Scottish coast, where he dedicated himself to prayer as a hermit.  Nevertheless, he was well known and highly esteemed, such that after St Cuthbert he became bishop of Lindisfarne.  The great historian, St Bede, relates an anecdote about St Ethelwald that came from an eye-witness, a priest named Guthfrid.  It illustrates my point admirably:

“I came,” says he [Guthfrid], “to the island of Fame, with two others of the brethren, desiring to speak with the most reverend father, Ethelwald. Having been refreshed with his discourse, and asked for his blessing, as we were returning home, behold on a sudden, when we were in the midst of the sea, the fair weather in which we were sailing, was broken, and there arose so great and terrible a tempest, that neither sails nor oars were of any use to us, nor had we anything to expect but death.

“After long struggling with the wind and waves to no effect, at last we looked back to see whether it was possible by any means at least to return to the island whence we came, but we found that we were on all sides alike cut off by the storm, and that there was no hope of escape by our own efforts. But looking further, we perceived, on the island of Fame, our father Ethelwald, beloved of God, come out of his retreat to watch our course; for, hearing the noise of the tempest and raging sea, he had come forth to see what would become of us. When he beheld us in distress and despair, he bowed his knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in prayer for our life and safety; and as he finished his prayer, he calmed the swelling water, in such sort that the fierceness of the storm ceased on all sides, and fair winds attended us over a smooth sea to the very shore. When we had landed, and had pulled up our small vessel from the waves, the storm, which had ceased a short time for our sake, presently returned, and raged furiously during the whole day; so that it plainly appeared that the brief interval of calm had been granted by Heaven in answer to the prayers of the man of God, to the end that we might escape.”

It was only God’s power that could calm the storm, and only true prayer could tap into that power.  Get it?  I hope so.

Your tired 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.

Saint of the Day

Sign up to receive Uncle Eddy’s daily letter

Learn about the Saints with Uncle Eddy

Scroll to Top

Subscribe to the Saint of the Day from Uncle Eddy

* indicates required

Looking for another country?

RC Near You

News & Resources

News & Resources

The Regnum Christi Mission

The Regnum Christi Identity

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!