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 Clare
Dear Claire, I can see from your note that excitement is not your only feeling as you get ready to begin your first year at college. My dear niece, God has been so good to you up until now, you can be sure that his goodness will follow you even ...
St Lawrence
Dear Larry, I imagine you have begun your “two-a-days” already. Football practice can be a great way to offer up sacrifices for the good of the Church and for the souls in purgatory, you know. As long as you understand that your involvement in athletics is part of your education ...
St Romanus
Dear Rummy, Your last note set off warning lights galore. Why are you despondent? Why so sad? Moods come and go, but if underneath your agitated emotional surface you can find no spiritual comfort in the Lord of hosts, something is wrong. Christ’s love never fails; his love for you ...
St Dominic Guzmán
Dear Don, If you are ever to become an effective apostle (or an effective anything), you must learn how to aim. The needs of those around you have to influence your efforts to build the Kingdom more than your personal preferences. If someone’s real problem is a bad moral habit, ...
Pope St Sixtus II and Companions
Dear Hector, Gearing up for senior year? I hope you get at least a few days of leisure before having to launch into another school year. You should try to start out fresh, so you can finish your college career with a flourish, not a whimper. You have probably already ...
The Transfiguration of Our Lord
Dear Miss Anthropy, Normally I write only to my myriad nephews and nieces (purely for prudential reasons – my captors care less about them than about all my other contacts), but your note (which just arrived) moved me so deeply that I simply had to respond right away (however briefly). ...
Dedication of St Mary Major
Dear Mary, Do you remember our visit to this magnificent building together a few years ago? Ah, me, that was a lovely trip. We made it there just in time for the solemn Rosary and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament – we were both so moved that we had tears ...
St John Vianney
Dear John, I was glad to get your note, and I am glad to hear that you are struggling. Yes, that’s not a typo; I am glad you are struggling – the sign of the cross is the sign of Christ’s loving presence: “I reprove and train those whom I ...
St Germanus of Auxerre
Dear Gerise, I am glad to hear that your little business is not so little anymore; it is gratifying to see my young niece show such ingenuity and determination. Most young men and women your age wait for good things to happen to them; you have learned to be the ...
St Eusebius of Vercelli
Dear Eustace, I really do dislike raining on my nephews’ parades, but sometimes the parades need to be denounced, and if good old Uncle Eddy doesn’t do it, who will? Yes, I heard the news: you’re “going out” with a lovely young lady who will be a freshman as you ...
St Alphonsus Liguori
Dear Fonzee, Law School is the funniest thing. You finish three years of hard labor (at least, I hope you did hard labor; what a shameful waste of time and opportunity if you just dilly-dallied around), and then you have to go into hibernation to study for the Bar Exam. ...
St Ignatius Loyola
Dear Laura, I do wish you would be careful what you read. I have never understood those parents who become so delighted when their children start preferring weird books to television; “reading” in and of itself is not a morally positive thing, you know. Just because you spend all your ...
