Dear Helene, I detect a bit of remorse in your last note, as if you regret your coming back to the Church at such a late date.\u00a0 I will admit that had you been taking Christ seriously since the beginning of your college career, you (and everyone around you) would have benefited considerably, and maybe you would have avoided some of the regrets you have accumulated.\u00a0 But why dwell on the bad?\u00a0 You have one year of college left, and then the whole rest of your life; if you fill the former with Christ, he will fill the latter with meaning and joy.\u00a0 Take a lesson from today\u2019s saint. Helen was an innkeeper\u2019s daughter, who caught the fancy of a Roman General named Constantius. They married, and she gave birth to a son.\u00a0 Soon afterwards, Constantius was named Caesar and divorced her in favor of a more \u201crespectable\u201d union with the Emperor\u2019s daughter.\u00a0 Eventually, however, Helen\u2019s son Constantine succeeded his father as Caesar, and then occupied the Imperial throne.\u00a0 Attributing his successes to the intervention of Jesus Christ, Constantine began receiving catechetical instruction and promulgated the Edict of Milan, establishing tolerance for Christianity throughout the Roman Empire.\u00a0 Though already in her sixties, Helen followed her son\u2019s lead, and became a Christian.\u00a0 So deeply did the faith take root in her soul that she did more for the Church in her last twenty years of life than most do in eighty.\u00a0 She set a public example of piety and prayer by attending Mass in dignified but plain clothes, unlike the other noble ladies, who took advantage of such occasions to flaunt their beauty and their expensive wardrobes.\u00a0 She supervised the construction of churches and shrines at the holy sites in Rome and in Palestine, rediscovering many ancient relics, like the cross of Christ\u2019s crucifixion.\u00a0 And wherever she went, her attention to the poor and reverence for priests and religious edified even the most cynical Romans. So you see, my newly confirmed niece, late starts don\u2019t have to make bad starts. God bless, Uncle Eddy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Helene, I detect a bit of remorse in your last note, as if you regret your coming back to the Church at such a late date.\u00a0 I will admit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":359,"featured_media":145992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3719],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-142200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncle-eddy"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"","pp_force_visibility":null,"pp_subpost_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_force_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_subpost_visibility":null,"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n