Dear Gilbert, Don\u2019t be so depressed.\u00a0 With God, even our foolish failures can become successes.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t expect us to know everything, to make the perfect decisions all the time, to avoid even the smallest blunder\u2026 Such is not our lot, my boy, and God knows it.\u00a0 We are just \u201cdust and ashes,\u201d as the Good Book says, and God is plenty familiar with our weakness.\u00a0 So in situations like the one you find yourself in now, convinced that you made a wrong decision about that particular extracurricular activity, avoid dwelling on the mistake.\u00a0 Rather, treat it like a trampoline, using your fall to make a sincere act of humility and trust in God, which will bounce you right back up again, drawing you even closer to him than you were before. \u00a0Today\u2019s saint shows this principle in action. Guy was a poor son of poor (but faithful and happy) parents in Belgium.\u00a0 He received no education except what his folks taught him by word and example about being a true follower of Christ.\u00a0 He learned his lesson well, and early on began to treasure his poverty as a great gift from God, one that could insulate him from the temptations to pride and self-satisfaction so often brought on by the comforts of wealth. As a young man he took a position as sacristan and caretaker of a local parish church, having impressed the priest with his sincere faith and humble diligence.\u00a0 He became a favorite among the parishioners.\u00a0 Soon, however, a merchant offered him the chance to invest his small savings into a promising business venture.\u00a0 He was even convinced to leave his sacristan position and join the trader\u2019s company, thinking that a larger income would give him more money to spend on helping the poor (that\u2019s where all his small pittance used to go \u2013 sometimes he even fed others while fasting himself, not having enough cash to buy food for both parties).\u00a0 Unfortunately, the ship with their goods sank before it even got out to sea, and Guy lost everything.\u00a0 He reproached himself for trusting more in his own schemes than in God, and decided to make a pilgrimage to Rome as penance.\u00a0 After Rome, he continued on to the Holy Land, and by the time he returned home he was emaciated, ill, and thoroughly exhausted from the hardships of his travels.\u00a0 He died in the hospital soon afterwards.\u00a0 Miracles were granted through his intercession almost as soon as he was buried, and the townspeople transferred his remains into a shrine, where he is still venerated today. A business failure, but a spiritual success \u2013 what matters is not that<\/u> we fail, but how we respond when<\/u> we fail.\u00a0 Trust in the Providence of God, my dear nephew, and as many times as you fall down, get right back up again, glad to have to depend even more on the Lord. Sincerely, Uncle Eddy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Gilbert, Don\u2019t be so depressed.\u00a0 With God, even our foolish failures can become successes.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t expect us to know everything, to make the perfect decisions all the time, […]<\/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-142224","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