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 Maria Goretti
Dear Loretta, Did you know that you don’t have to die in defense of the faith in order to be a martyr? Well, it’s true. The martyr’s crown also goes to those who are killed in defense of a Christian virtue. That’s what happened to today’s saint. Barely a teenager ...
St Anthony Zaccaria
Dear Antoine, How goes the cancer research? You probably don’t know, being only a pre-med student working as a volunteer in a children’s hospital, they probably have you doing mundane tasks like delivering prescriptions and x-rays between departments, right? Well, I am certain you are finding ways to make the ...
St Elizabeth of Portugal
Dear Eliza, Are you buying into those mistaken puritanical ideas again, feeling guilty about your high “social and economic status”? Do come to your senses, my dear niece. I have always counted it a happy prov-incidence (that’s kind of like a coincidence, but arranged by divine Providence) that our own ...
St Thomas the Apostle
Dear Tom, One of the secrets to prayer is honesty, which, as I can see clearly from your latest communiqués, you need a lot more of. You can’t approach the Lord saying only what you think you are “supposed” to say. First of all, you’ll get bored very fast, and ...
St Otto
Dear Bert, Since I haven’t heard from you in a long while, I imagine that you are quite content working in your congressman’s office for the summer – or else you have been cowed by the oppressive heat and humidity of the Capital and are simply too worn out to ...
St Gall
Dear Chloe, How is life in the library? The best teacher I ever had once told me that the three most important people to make friends with at any good-sized institution are the cook, the secretary, and the librarian (advice I followed religiously until my capture a little while ago ...
First Martyrs of the Church of Rome
Dear Romeo, Funny that your folks named you after the Shakespearean tragic hero, whose name just happens to coincide with today’s saints (you should have heard what they were going to name you – thanks to good old Uncle Eddy you don’t have to carry an extra ink cartridge around ...
The Solemnity of St Peter and St Paul
Dear Pippin, Can I bare my heart to you? I think it’s safe, since you probably won’t read this till after midnight, as your downing a couple Twinkies and gulping another can of Jolt (you see, I know why you find it so hard to get up in the mornings ...
St Irenaeus of Lyons
Dear Irene, I can tell from your notes (which are very welcome, by the way; it is nice to know that someone besides God hasn’t forgotten about me) that you have a lot of free time on your hands this summer. Probably because you got one of those cushy, air-conditioned ...
St Cyril of Alexandria
Dear Sally, Believe me, my very dear niece; I know what you are going through. Between swim training, working 2 jobs, and an active (plus, I hope, healthy) social life, keeping God on the radar screen is no small challenge. Our Lord too understood this: “The world will give you ...
St Anthelm
Dear Ann, Don’t think like that; you’ll just tie yourself up in knots. The way to decide whether to consecrate your life exclusively to God in the service of the Church or to sanctify the world by entering into it like a torch in the dark is not by mere ...
St William of Vercelli
Dear Willy, Every note you send me fills me with jubilation. Clearly, God is hard at work, calling you to a profound life of intimacy with him, and just as clearly you are cooperating with exemplary humility and docility. Alas! If only I had been so wise when I was ...
