Dear Gomer, You do seem to have terrible luck with roommates.\u00a0 Of course, perhaps your roommate is saying the same thing (we all tend to see quite clearly the \u201cspeck\u201d in our neighbor\u2019s eye, though a \u201cboard\u201d is stuck in our own).\u00a0 In any case, I would encourage you to quit whining and start working.\u00a0 If all you want in life is the illusion of being on a perpetual vacation where everything is always hunky dory, then go ahead and ask for a new room assignment.\u00a0 But if you conceive of your life as it really is – a mission, an opportunity to build virtue in your own heart and win souls for Christ\u2019s Kingdom \u2013 then you will relish the chance this year is giving you to grow in patience, self-discipline, and charity.\u00a0 Perhaps you could take today\u2019s saint as your patron for the year; he knows what you\u2019re going through \u2013 a similar dilemma catapulted him into the upper echelons of holiness. Gummarus was a nobleman who grew up in the court of the Frankish King Pepin the Short (Charlemagne\u2019s dad). \u00a0The young man was noteworthy for his sense of responsibility, even in his smallest duties, and the king rewarded him by arranging a marriage with a woman of noble birth named Guinimaria.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the lady\u2019s beauty was only skin-deep.\u00a0 She was \u201cextravagant and perverse in her ways, cruel, capricious and altogether unteachable,\u201d as one biographer has put it.\u00a0 From that moment on, the saint lived under the shadow of ceaseless \u201croommate\u201d problems, trying to keep Guinimaria happy and to counteract her abusive treatment of their vassals, servants, and everyone else in a three-mile radius.\u00a0 His only respite was a nine-year stint on campaign with King Pepin\u2019s army.\u00a0 Usually men are sorry to leave their wives behind to go to war, but Gummarus was sorry to come back: Guinimaria had thrown the entire estate into chaos, terrifying, oppressing, and impoverishing all of their dependants.\u00a0 Gummarus nobly made restitution and put things back in order.\u00a0 Guinimaria was so impressed by his patience and justice that for a brief spell she seemed to repent of her shrewish ways, but soon relapsed.\u00a0 Gummarus did his best to win her back to Christian decency, but to no avail.\u00a0 Finally he was forced into retirement, where he spent his final days in prayer and penance. The trick, my dear nephew, is to see things from God\u2019s perspective: the world viewed this medieval match as unconditionally unhappy, but through it Gummarus drew intimately close to the Lord and became a saint.\u00a0 Your current residential arrangement could very well be a tactical maneuver of the Holy Spirit, who\u2019s hoping that you\u2019ll use it as a spur to deepen your prayer life and develop your virtue.\u00a0 Don\u2019t let him down. Sincerely, Uncle Eddy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Gomer, You do seem to have terrible luck with roommates.\u00a0 Of course, perhaps your roommate is saying the same thing (we all tend to see quite clearly the \u201cspeck\u201d […]<\/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-142253","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