Regnum Christi Spirituality Center Uncle Eddy

Dear Theo,

I detected a trace of comfort-seeking in your last note.  Could it be that you have become a bit self-satisfied now that you’re a senior?  True, you have accomplished a lot in three years working with Compass and Campus Ministry.  No one can fairly doubt it. But if God hasn’t yet taken you home to heaven, there’s a reason: you’ve still got more work to do.  Is everyone on campus in love with Christ? Are all the campus leaders committed to the Kingdom? Until they are, you have no cause to relax your efforts.  Perhaps today’s saint can inspire you to expand your horizons.

She was a beautiful Egyptian noblewoman who grew up as a Christian.  Unfortunately, however, the pleasures of court life flattered her vanity and drew her into their sticky web.  She frolicked and indulged, stifling her conscience and scandalizing her fellow citizens with her wholehearted embrace of the most sensual of sins.  Her reputation for ill behavior spread throughout the region, and, with the help of God’s grace, moved a holy hermit by the name of Paphnutius to begin interceding for her conversion.  He wept continually for her sins, did penance for them, and eventually concocted a pious plan to retrieve her soul from the road to perdition. He left his cave in the desert, donned courtly garb, and approached her residence for an interview.  She invited him into her parlor, but he asked to be shown an even more isolated room. At that request, she countered, “If you wish to avoid the eyes of men, this is sufficient; if you wish to avoid the eyes of God, no room is beyond his all-piercing gaze.”  Paphnutius was shocked to find that she still remembered the truth of God’s presence. When he expressed his surprise, she explained that she also knew about heaven and hell and the punishments of sin. Flabbergasted, he queried: “Is it possible you should know these great truths and yet dare to sin in the eyes of him who knows and will judge all things?”  At that moment, her heart was touched by grace, given deep contrition for her sins and a bottomless desire to make amends for them.

She begged the holy hermit to give her three hours to put her affairs in order, then she would meet him wherever he wished in order to receive her penance and begin her return to intimacy with God.  She used the three hours to gather all her jewels and clothes and even her luxurious furniture – all the trappings of her sinful past – and burn them in the city street, expressing both her intention to repent and her hope to undo the scandal caused by her bad example.  Then Paphnutius brought her to a convent, where she was closed up in a cell and given only bread and water to eat while she prayed for mercy: “You who have created me, have pity on me.” She persevered in her penance for a long time, and after St Anthony and St Paul the simple were both consulted, she was eventually extracted from her cell in order to join the community of religious.  Fifteen days later she went to her reward, having burned the perishable wealth of this world in order to inherit the everlasting wealth of the next.

I can’t help thinking that you have one or two (or many more) such souls there on campus.  In the back of their minds they still here the gentle voice of God, but they need someone to help them break with the evil habits they have formed.  Perhaps that’s where God would like you work this semester: praying and doing penance for the big sinners, and winning them back to the cause of Christ.

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.

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!