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 Justin Martyr
Dear Marty, Do not be afraid of questions, my bright little nephew! Neither the questions that you come up with yourself, nor the questions hurled at you by others. God gave us minds, and he wants us to use them. Even if you don’t know the answers at first, be ...
Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin to her cousin Elizabeth
Dear Liz, If God isn’t a feminist, then I don’t know who is. I mean a real feminist, one who champions true femininity and wants the light of its genius to bathe every aspect of human life and society with its enlivening warmth. Take today’s feast for example, in which ...
St Joan of Arc
Dear Joanne, My dearest of nieces, as you prepare for your graduation (this afternoon, I believe?) I am reminiscing here in my drab and almost comfortable cubicle/prison, recalling the highs and lows of your collegiate career. You were a most comforting and faithful correspondent, exactly as your mother had been ...
St Cyril of Caesarea
Dear Priscilla, I must write quickly, because they are taking me out for another “interrogation” tonight, but I can’t delay answering your last note. You mustn’t be surprised to find opposition to your most generous and noble vocational decision, even from people intimately related to you. Our Lord himself said, ...
St Bernard of Montjoux
Dear Bert, So you have decided on business school, eh? Well, congratulations on finally making a decision! I know how nerve-wracking that can be. Don’t fret it though, all we can do is think through our options, get sound advice, ask God for light, and then make what seems the ...
St Augustine of Canterbury
Dear Maggie, My dear temperamental niece, don’t make the proverbial mistake of throwing the baby out with the bath water. I suspect that you are exaggerating a little bit when you say that sororities are “evil” and that you are going to abandon yours and start a campaign to eradicate ...
St Philip Neri
Dear Phil, You are just a freshman; you’ve got so much time ahead of you – three more big, fat years at college, and then a whole lifetime! But you are wise to pose the question you asked in your last note: how can you make the best use of ...
St Bede the Venerable
Dear Beth, If it is true that the pen is more powerful than the sword (which I am willing to admit) than I am quite relieved to have your pen on our side. Another writing prize? I daresay that you will probably be able to pay your entire tuition with ...
St Joseph St Donatian and St Rogatian
Dear Donald, Happy baptismal anniversary! If I am not mistaken, you were baptized exactly a year ago today, one of many young men whom God has graced at the dawn of their adult lives with a desire to carry the torch of faith into this world’s dark and seductive faithlessness. ...
St Desiderius
Dear Desiree, My dearest of nieces, Christianity is not “Comfort-anity.” Earth is not heaven, as I keep trying to convince all of you. If you take Jesus Christ seriously, and if you love him faithfully and serve his Church with all the vigor and creativity of your youth, I can ...
St Castus and St Aemilius
Dear Emily, Are you really surprised by your inability to overcome those stubborn bad habits? May I ask why? Do you think yourself so strong as to be able to free yourself from sin forever? My dear niece, be very careful. We can respond in two ways when we fall: ...
St Godric
Dear Ricky, Did I detect a bit of discouragement in your last note, or was it just my daily gruel disagreeing with me again? Since after these years of solitary confinement I believe I am quite used to my daily gruel, I will assume that the former is correct. No ...
