St Ignatius Loyola

Regnum Christi Spirituality Center Uncle Eddy

Dear Laura,

I sympathize with you… kind of.  I mean, you were the one who accepted the job, and you knew what it involved.  I can’t imagine that it’s as bad as you say.  C’mon.  How bad can it be?  You live in a gorgeous mansion on the legendary Maine coast, overlooking the robust waters of the Atlantic, in the shadow of a historic lighthouse, with a servant, a gardener, and a cook.  Do you realize how many people would die for a summer job like that?  OK, I’ll admit that cleaning stables and exercising horses 8 hours a day could get somewhat, um, how shall I say?… Redundant?  And being in that splendid isolation, no friends, no family, nobody at all to talk to except the servant, the gardener, and the cook – that could get a bit tiresome as well.  Even so, I think you need to change your perspective.  I also think you should take up your old hobby again.  I am willing to bet this entire office cubicle that that old house has a fabulous library.  Why not make yourself a nice summer reading schedule?  Try to get through a classic or two each week, instead of just flipping through magazines and surfing the web.  Good reading can do wonders for your soul, and for the souls of others, as today’s saint attests to.

Ignatius (Iñigo in the original Spanish) was a Christian knight from a noble family in the north of Spain.  He inherited all the swashbuckling worldliness of the flashiest Spanish gallants, and as a young man he threw himself into the battles with France that raged in the borderlands surrounding his home.  There he was blasted with a cannonball and had to spend months recuperating (he ever after walked with a limp).  Bored stiff, he asked for some chivalric romances (like Renaissance Danielle Steele stuff) to read.  None were available in the castle (hats off to his parents), but there was a “Life of Christ” and a few volumes of lives of the saints.  To pass the time, he began to read them.  Soon he began to relish them.  By the time he could move freely again he had been firmly convinced of the vanity of earthly glory and vowed to make a pilgrimage to Mary’s shrine at Montserrat where he would start fresh.

There he began to lead a truly Christian life, laying deep foundations of intense and heartfelt prayer and building up an impressive spiritual edifice of self-denial, charity, and dedication to the Kingdom of Christ.  He went on to make another pilgrimage, this time to the Holy Land, and then to take up studies for the priesthood in Europe’s greatest universities (although he was twice as old as most of the students).  Through it all, he made “everything for the greater glory of God” into his personal motto, and gathered fellow students around him in order to be able to do more for the cause of Christ.  Eventually, he formed the religious order now known as the Jesuits, which has had more of an impact on the world, perhaps, than any other institution besides the Church itself.  Since its foundation in 1541, there has never been a day in which the earth has not been blessed with the presence of a Jesuit who was later canonized as a saint.

And it all started when he was cooped up in a castle, all alone, and didn’t have anything else to do but read.  Don’t they say history repeats itself?  Wouldn’t that be nice in your case?…  Do keep in touch.

Your devoted 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!