SAINT OF THE DAY
WITH UNCLE EDDY
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, 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.
St Laurence O’Toole
Dear Larry, Do I detect an air of surprise in your last note? But why are you surprised? Are you the first to be spoken badly of by the very people you are trying to help? Hardly. If they are trying to brand you “arch conservative” and “homophobic” and “misogynist” and “hypocritical” simply because you are doing what you can to get the Church’s teaching aired in that relativism-infested atmosphere on campus, that’s par for the course. “Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and speak all kinds of evil against you on my account…” (Matthew 5:11), ...
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St Laurence O’Toole
Dear Larry, Do I detect an air of surprise in your last note? But why are you surprised? Are you the first to be spoken badly of by the very people you are trying to help? Hardly. If they are trying to brand you “arch conservative” and “homophobic” and “misogynist” ...
St Frances Xavier Cabrini
Dear Fran, Ah me. I knew that senior year would be a bit topsy-turvy for you, but I thought the turvy part would surface a bit later on. I should’ve known, however, that your super-sensitivity would accelerate the outbreak of post-college nervousness, as your last note so eloquently attests. At ...
St Josaphat
Dear Josie, You know, of course, how much I admire you. Of all my nieces I believe that you have received a special vocation. And now that I see you falling prey to the seductions of Californian culture, it makes my stomach turn. Certainly it is only to be expected, ...
St Martin of Tours
Dear Terry, It took me a long while to get through your last note. Not only was it quite long (which is fine – I’ve plenty of free time on my hands), but also your thoughts were muddled and complicated and densely tangled – it would have been helpful if ...
St Leo the Great
Dear Lee, I was truly sorry to hear of the difficulties your COMPASS chapter is encountering this fall – sorry, but not surprised. The ancient enemy never tires of sowing weeds among the wheat, as our Lord pointed out. The important thing, of course, is to avoid discouragement, to stir ...
The Dedication of the Archbasilica of the Most Holy Savior
Dear Jake, Please, I beg of you, take a few moments out of your busy schedule today and go say a prayer for your poor, persecuted uncle in the Mother Church of the whole world. If God has been so good as to allow you to spend this semester in ...
The Four Crowned Martyrs
Dear Claude, Lovely reviews of your latest play – thanks for forwarding them to me. Clearly, you have a real talent in things theatrical, seeing as you are able to please such divergent reviewers. Keep up the good work – heaven knows how desperately we need a renaissance of Christian ...
St Willibrord
Dear Willy, Courage, my timorous young nephew, you must drum up your courage! No use sitting in the coffee house with likeminded Catholics and lamenting the horrid state of campus life over a steaming café latte. Sit there and slurp as many cappuccinos as you like, but do so while ...
St Winnoc
Dear Wilma, I think you will find much more peace if you stop complaining about having to work to help pay for your school. Let’s be realistic, first of all, then super-realistic. Being realistic, you have to admit that most of your friends who don’t have to work to help ...
St Bertilla
Dear Bert, Well, don’t get too worried about how things will work themselves out down the road; it’s good to plan ahead, but you should keep in mind that God may want things to turn out a bit differently than you think. If that’s the case, stick with God’s suggestions ...
St Charles Borromeo
Dear Chuck, The distress in your last note caught my attention. You say you are tempted to simply “give up” your non-academic commitments in order to be able to study sufficiently, not having enough time for both. Hogwash. You are feeling the pressure of midterms and suffering from the misuse ...
St Martin de Porres
Dear Martin, Still suffering from racial slurs, eh? It pains me to hear it, but I have to say that it doesn’t surprise me. Racism is not dead, and, in some form or other, it will always live on. Certainly, that doesn’t mean that we should condone it or give ...
