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), ...
Read More →
Search for Your Favorite Saint
St Ezequiel Moreno y Díaz
Dear Zeke, I can almost hear the tremble in your voice as I read over your note. I wonder if it’s from excitement, or nervousness, maybe a little fear, maybe all of the above? I know you have been looking forward to this day for a long time. Going off ...
St Agapitus
Dear Pete, I detect a tinge of unhealthy hesitancy in your latest emails. Reading between the lines, it seems that you are using comfort and ease as the criteria for setting personal goals for sophomore year. I don’t think it’s due to laziness (unlike most of your cousins, you have ...
St Jeanne of the Cross Delanoue
Dear Jeannie, Let me get this straight. You have discovered your talent for making money and running a business, so you think you need to put your faith on the back burner for a while? That is one of the most ludicrous things I have read in the last I-don’-know-how-many ...
St Rock
Dear Rick, Glad to hear that you’re conscientiously gearing up for your senior year. During this year, whether you like it or not, the buck is going to stop with you. You’re one of the leaders there, by default, and the younger students will be looking to you for guidance, ...
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Dear Virgil, Your plan for a new apologetics club looks, if I may be honest, excellent. I am certain that setting up your booth during freshmen orientation (it’s hard to believe another school year has already appeared on the doorstep, isn’t it?) will stir up enough interest to garner good ...
St Maximilian Kolbe
Dear Max, As a convert, you have to be careful. You didn’t grow up imbibing the Catholic worldview; you imbibed the Protestant worldview, which is different. One of the differences is your picture of heaven. Catholics picture heaven as a bustling, glorious, populous city of light and joy and activity ...
St Benildus, Religious
Dear Ben, I was glad to hear that you are struggling against tedium. A summer working nine-to-five fixing screws at the factory, and just about to start a school year that looks like it’s going to be spent in the laboratory and the library… You are on a path that ...
St Porcarius and Companions
Dear Kerri, I hope you’re finding time for some needed rest. You’ve worked hard this summer and junior year is right around the corner – I don’t want you to arrive on campus already exhausted. Make sure you take a few days to enjoy nature, get some exercise, eat a ...
St Clare
Dear Clark, Frankly, you lack willpower. Don’t be offended; you need to hear the truth, it’s the only remedy for your dissipation. Think for a minute about all those good resolutions you made at the beginning of the summer. I have them right here in my archive. A whole list ...
St Lawrence
Dear Larry, I hope you are finding a happy way to celebrate this happy day. My most memorable St Lawrence Day was in Rome. He’s a favorite there. His feast day, they consider, is the hottest day of the year (which appropriately corresponds to the mode of his martyrdom). I ...
St Edith Stein
Dear Emily, One thing about your generation never ceases to amaze me. You seem completely averse to inviting non-Catholics to become Catholics. Why is that, I wonder? Is it because you yourself don’t believe in your own faith? Can’t be. I know that you do, and you make real sacrifices ...
St Dominic Guzmán
Dear Goose, It’s nice to have a big enough COMPASS chapter that you can organize grand events like the Campus Pow-Wow and the Sundown Serenity Concert. But need I remind you that big events aren’t ends in themselves? Adolph Hitler organized some of the biggest events in the twentieth century, ...
