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 Mark the Evangelist
Dear Marcia, If they ever let me out of this absurd confinement, I would very much like to take you and your brother on a pilgrimage to Venice. Three cities in Italy defy description: Florence, Rome, and Venice. I won’t tell you which is my favorite. But I will tell ...
St Fidelis of Sigmaringen
Dear Fidelity, Don’t change majors for the wrong reasons. You have always wanted to be a lawyer (and for the right reasons, too: to defend justice), and pre-law is a logical way to attain such a goal. If you abandon it for physical education just because it’s more fun and ...
St Epipodius and St Alexander
Dear Alexis, Nothing would break my heart more than to see your collegiate success lure you away from friendship with Christ; they should go together! Of course, I am not naïve; I know it’s tough. You’re so busy, and you keep falling head over heels for guys who don’t share ...
St Anselm
Dear Anne, I think you should reconsider your decision. I am convinced that you can stay involved in student government, dominate your double-major, keep up with your violin, and still have plenty of fun, if (and that’s a very BIG ”if”), if you do one thing: keep your prayer time ...
St Agnes of Montelpulciano
Dear Monte, Just one year left, and then out into the “real world”, as they call it. It does seem that your first three years of college have passed by rather quickly. I can tell that you are already looking beyond the borders of campus and wondering what life will ...
St Leo IX
Dear Leon, In your last note, I detected a most displeasing tinge of disdain for your spiritual mother, the Catholic Church. I understand that many influential people around you (some professors, for instance) would gladly obliterate the Church at the slightest opportunity. Some such persons cloak their real reasons for ...
St Apollonius the Apologist
Dear Polly, I have been thinking about you a lot lately. I much admire your gift of easy and lively conversation, which would be a welcome respite for me, doomed as I am to this inhuman solitary confinement (but as long as God wants me here, here I will gladly ...
St Donnan and Companions
Dear Don, Glad to hear that your “business” is doing so well, you’re a chip off the old entrepreneurial block. Being able to pay your own way through school will free up some of your parents’ funds to help offset the educational costs of your less business-minded siblings. One caveat, ...
St Bernadette (Marie-Bernard) Soubirous
Dear Marie, So you won another scholarship. You really are putting together an impressive résumé. I guess congratulations are in order, so, congratulations… I have to admit, however, that I am still a bit concerned. When you were growing up (you probably don’t remember this), you always needed a bit ...
St Hunna
Dear Hunny, I was encouraged to hear about the success of your Apologetics Workshop, but I am seriously concerned about your other news. What good will it be to you or your Lord if you organize and run wonderful, well-attended Catholic events if they lead you into the sins of ...
Blessed Lydwina of Sheidam
Dear Lydia, I just read your essay “Why Life Ought to Be a Vacation.” It really blew me away – into an almost uncontrollable rage, that is. My dear niece, why are you trying to convince yourself that earth should be like heaven? This brief span of years we are ...
St Martin I
Dear Marty, If you really love Jesus Christ, there is something you must do for him every day without fail: pray for his Vicar on earth, the Pope. How casually we modern Catholics view the papacy! Christ’s promise that the papacy will continue to preserve the true faith and surely ...
