Dear Vinnie, Be holy!\u00a0 My dear nephew, don\u2019t WORRY about anything else!\u00a0 Nothing else matters \u2013 nothing, do you hear (read) me?\u00a0 NOTHING ELSE!\u00a0 And the fastest way to get holy is to have one preoccupation: building Christ\u2019s Kingdom.\u00a0 If all you really care about is discovering and fulfilling God\u2019s will every day, channeling all your talents and energy into pleasing him by how you live and what you do, you won\u2019t have any time left over for sterile self-pity and whining.\u00a0 Take a lesson from the example of today\u2019s saint. Most people think of the worldwide charitable works association that bears his name when they hear it.\u00a0 That, however, was founded a couple centuries later, in his honor and in perfect harmony with his active concern for the poor and needy, but not by him personally.\u00a0 He actually founded a bunch of other organizations, including a congregation of priests dedicated to giving spiritual attention to the French peasants (that congregation ended up going international \u2013 carrying out country missions and directing seminaries – even in his lifetime) and a religious order of women whose \u201cconvent is the sickroom, chapel the parish church, and cloister the streets of the city,\u201d in other words, they were dedicated to serving the spiritual and corporeal needs of the poor.\u00a0 He ransomed over 1200 Christian slaves in Africa, was spiritual advisor to kings and counts, queens and countesses, and established dozens of hospitals for the neediest and most destitute, like orphans and galley-slaves. He undertook all these projects after starting out as a comfort-loving cleric with a quick-temper and a despondent character.\u00a0 That all began to change when a fellow clergyman accused him of theft and slandered him throughout the city (this happened just after he was ordained).\u00a0 He bore the injustice graciously, and it showed him that the comforts and pleasures of this world are undependable.\u00a0 Thereafter he began to look more for how he could serve others than how he could take care of himself. And that\u2019s the advice I leave with you.\u00a0 Take your sights off your own spiritual belly button and stay focused on building the Kingdom.\u00a0 As our Lord himself put it: \u201cseek first the kingdom of God, and these other things will be given you besides.\u201d\u00a0 (Matthew 6:33)\u00a0 That\u2019s not a bad motto for life. Sincerely, Uncle Eddy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Vinnie, Be holy!\u00a0 My dear nephew, don\u2019t WORRY about anything else!\u00a0 Nothing else matters \u2013 nothing, do you hear (read) me?\u00a0 NOTHING ELSE!\u00a0 And the fastest way to get […]<\/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-142239","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