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 Gregory the Great
Dear Greg, What God asks of us is not always to our liking, but it is always better than what we may like. You may prefer to spend your days playing tennis and your nights studying philosophy, but the Lord would like you to be squeezing in as well some ...
St Antoninus
Dear Antoine, So, idolatry is making a comeback, is it? The picture of you studying your Bible while your roommate burns incense to his crystals makes me smile – it proves once again that God has a sense of humor. Your reaction to the situation, however, makes me frown. Don’t ...
St Drithelm
Dear Drew, Glad to hear that things are going well. Is it possible that they are going too well? I don’t want to be the proverbial wet blanket (unless you’re burning to death, that is), but we should always keep in mind our Lord’s words, “rejoice because your names are ...
St Aidan of Lindisfarne
Dear Adelaide, How’s the weather over there? I would tell you how it looks here, if I could see it. They haven’t let me out of this windowless office space for I don’t know how long. Ugh. I offer it up for your and all your cousins – maybe my ...
St Felix and Adauctus
Dear Felicity, I knew that college would challenge your faith more than high school, but I didn’t think it would happen so fast. Even so, you shouldn’t be alarmed. Why do you think God instituted the sacrament of confirmation? Because we need an extra boost of grace to be faithful ...
The Beheading of John the Baptist
Dear Biff, Your most recent note betrayed you. Though you claim to be “off to a downright peachy start” as sophomore year commences, I can tell that your electronic grin is nothing but a fake smile. Don’t be afraid, my dear nephew; sophomore slump really happens (that’s why the term ...
St Augustine
Dear Gus, So orientation week is over and classes have begun. Are you sober? Don’t be shocked; I know how orientation weeks go, and I know you. And that’s why I’m writing. You do not have an evil heart, my young nephew, but you do have a great love for ...
St Monica
Dear Monica, Yes, my dear niece, “unanswered” prayers can be hard to endure. Just ask today’s saint. Monica spent over ten years pleading with God through tears and entreaties to bring her wayward son into the Christian fold. At times she spent entire nights in prayer; more often than not, ...
St Elizabeth Bichier des Ages
Dear Liz, Your despondency is a waste of energy. If Christ were in your place, would he complain, or would he get to work? Ok, so you had your heart set on school A, but you didn’t get accepted and so you have had to come to school B, which ...
St Louis IX, King of France
Dear Lou, Your determination to serve your neighbor by going into politics has always inspired me. I can even remember your award-winning discourse back in the eighth-grade speech contest, when you exhorted everyone to substitute “statesman” for “politician” as a way to acknowledge the nobility of civil service. That you ...
St Bartholomew
Dear Bertha, If your first two years of college have been a kind of “training” in how to live out your faith without sinking into the typical collegiate pitfalls (and I must say you have been an inspiringly docile trainee), now begins (if I may be so bold as to ...
St Rose of Lima
Dear Lise, I’m not one to deprecate beauty pageants, so I gladly congratulate you on winning the Miss Atlanta contest. (I guess your piano lessons paid off.) Nevertheless, now that you are heading off to college, it is my responsibility to remind you that many dangers await you there, so ...
