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 Albert the Great
Dear Alice, I do so hope you are able to take a break from your grueling work in the lab and get a chance to read this before midnight; today is the feast day of your patron saint, my dear niece, and you ought to do something special in his honor. Don’t be confused; I know that you are not named after Albert the Great, but do you know that he is patron of all students of the natural sciences? And since your biochemistry fetish still qualifies as a natural science, he is your patron. There you have it. I ...
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St Nemesius and Other Martyrs
Dear Nancy, Let me guess: your room is a mess, your pile of dirty laundry is exceedingly large, you have been keeping an erratic schedule, and you’re feeling completely frazzled. How can I tell? Well, your last note was somewhat disjointed, and you were complaining about lack of interior peace. ...
St Winebald
Dear Telly, How blessed you are to be able to gather with your family at Christmas! It is a grace I must once again do without this year, but I gladly offer up the sacrifice of another solitary Christmas for the benefit of you and your brother and sister. I ...
St Begga
Dear Bridget, Today begins our final countdown to the great Solemnity of Christmas. Ah, what joy filled my soul at the mere thought of that first Christmas night when our Lady brought forth the Savior Child! I do hope you are taking full advantage of this blessed season to fill ...
St Adelaide
Dear Adele, Often as I pace back in forth here in my cubicle, or as I lay sleepless on the odd contraption they call a bed, I consider the circumstances of my death. You may think it an odd (if not morbid) occupation, but I disagree. Countless saints have ceaselessly ...
St Nino
Dear Ninny, You think too small, my dear niece. Did not our Lord assure us that with faith the size of a mustard seed we would be able to move entire mountains? (Cf. Matthew 17:20) The cleansing campus culture of corrosive elements is no more daunting of a task than ...
St John of the Cross
Dear John, Difficulties in prayer again? Good. It’s a sure sign that you are growing up, in the spiritual sense. When we are spiritual novices, God gives us plenty of candy – prayer is sweet, it takes little effort, liturgical celebrations arouse feelings of warmth and happiness… our emotions are ...
St Lucy
Dear Lucille, I had a strange experience today. One of the guards who speaks broken English spoke to me when he delivered my lunch (nothing but freeze-dried astronaut fare, I’m afraid). His face showed deep concern. I thought perhaps he wanted to speak about a death in the family, but ...
St Jane Frances de Chantal
Dear Janine, I can’t understand how you complain so bitterly about the dishonorable intentions of all those young men who invite you out and at the same time you dress and act in such a way as to inevitably stir up such intentions. I hope this contradiction shows only that ...
St Daniel the Stylite
Dear Danny, I hope you’re taking Advent seriously. Too many people don’t, you know. What a waste. God rains down all kinds of blessings for us during the different liturgical seasons, and most of us walk around with our umbrella of indifference, letting them skim right off and flow uselessly ...
St John Roberts
Dear Jake, That’s some strange stuff your religion professor is dishing out. All that talk about the faith of the people leading the Pope and Bishops to a deeper understanding of God’s revelation has a grain of truth in it, but the grain is laced with deadly poison. The guarantee ...
St Hipparchus and his Companions, the Seven Martyrs of Samosata
Dear Steve, I empathize with the distress you are feeling in the face of an “overwhelming quantity of work” (as you put it) as final exams approach. I empathize, but I don’t feel sorry for you. Part of it is due to your spats of carelessness and procrastination throughout the ...
The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Dear Mac, It seems that you have been spending so much time trying to convert your Protestant friends that you have begun to think like them on certain matters. To stop praying the rosary because it is “not an absolute requirement of our faith, and besides it’s just plain boring” ...
