St Vincent de Paul

Regnum Christi Spirituality Center Uncle Eddy

Dear Vinnie,

Be holy!  My dear nephew, don’t WORRY about anything else!  Nothing else matters – nothing, do you hear (read) me?  NOTHING ELSE!  And the fastest way to get holy is to have one preoccupation: building Christ’s Kingdom.  If all you really care about is discovering and fulfilling God’s will every day, channeling all your talents and energy into pleasing him by how you live and what you do, you won’t have any time left over for sterile self-pity and whining.  Take a lesson from the example of today’s saint.

Most people think of the worldwide charitable works association that bears his name when they hear it.  That, however, was founded a couple centuries later, in his honor and in perfect harmony with his active concern for the poor and needy, but not by him personally.  He actually founded a bunch of other organizations, including a congregation of priests dedicated to giving spiritual attention to the French peasants (that congregation ended up going international – carrying out country missions and directing seminaries – even in his lifetime) and a religious order of women whose “convent is the sickroom, chapel the parish church, and cloister the streets of the city,” in other words, they were dedicated to serving the spiritual and corporeal needs of the poor.  He ransomed over 1200 Christian slaves in Africa, was spiritual advisor to kings and counts, queens and countesses, and established dozens of hospitals for the neediest and most destitute, like orphans and galley-slaves.

He undertook all these projects after starting out as a comfort-loving cleric with a quick-temper and a despondent character.  That all began to change when a fellow clergyman accused him of theft and slandered him throughout the city (this happened just after he was ordained).  He bore the injustice graciously, and it showed him that the comforts and pleasures of this world are undependable.  Thereafter he began to look more for how he could serve others than how he could take care of himself.

And that’s the advice I leave with you.  Take your sights off your own spiritual belly button and stay focused on building the Kingdom.  As our Lord himself put it: “seek first the kingdom of God, and these other things will be given you besides.”  (Matthew 6:33)  That’s not a bad motto for life.

Sincerely,

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!