Dear Jean, Ever since you arrived at college your notes have narrated all the wonderful experiences you have been having.\u00a0 Unfortunately, all of those experiences are parties, dates, weekend road trips, and other social engagements.\u00a0 Not once have you mentioned a single class, a professor, a lecture \u2013 and you have\u00a0not even alluded to any kind of spiritual life.\u00a0 My dear niece, you can skim along the giddy surface of a \u201cgood time\u201d for the first eight (or more) weeks of college, but if you don\u2019t balance out your social life with a little substance, the next four years will be nothing more than a long firecracker.\u00a0 Depth of soul, my dearest, depth of soul is what leads to lasting joy and the inexpressible sweetness of a life lived intensely.\u00a0 The highest mountains have the deepest roots, and they are the most beautiful.\u00a0 The deeper waters harbor more life, and can withstand the storms.\u00a0 Those who love silence can hear the music better.\u00a0 Learn from the example of today\u2019s saint. He was one of those extraordinarily talented persons who would have achieved greatness in whatever undertaking he embraced.\u00a0 He was born in central Italy, and finished up his studies in the city of Perugia.\u00a0 He made such an impression on the people there that when he graduated they elected him governor.\u00a0 Political squabbles ended up with his capture and imprisonment by local adversaries.\u00a0 It was prison that saved him.\u00a0 Forced to reflect on the passing nature of worldly glory (hitherto his only desire), and on the reality of death (prisons in 1400 were hardly comfortable or sanitary), he emerged with a determination to put his life at the service of God and the eternal Kingdom.\u00a0 He humiliated himself by riding through town sitting backwards on a Donkey, with a huge paper cone on his head where he wrote out in bold letters all his most heinous sins.\u00a0 As he made his way through the streets, children and adults alike laughed at him, and pelted him with mud and stones.\u00a0 In this condition, he requested entry at the Franciscan friary, and began his preparations to become a Franciscan priest.\u00a0 He was subjected to severe trials of obedience as a novice, for which he was grateful ever after, but persevered in spite of the difficulties. By the time he was ordained a priest, everyone was familiar with his extraordinary abilities as a preacher and miracle worker.\u00a0 He spent the rest of his life traveling from province to province and tirelessly calling people to repentance, trying to counteract the scandals and disorder that reigned in the Italian church at the time.\u00a0 Eventually he was entrusted with reform of the Franciscan order itself, which he performed admirably.\u00a0 He also became a favorite pick for special papal missions \u2013 to Jerusalem, for instance, and then to counteract heresy in Austria.\u00a0 Wherever he went, huge crowds gathered to hear him and to ask him to cure their sick.\u00a0 His zeal for the Church won many fallen-away Christians back into the fold, and even roused the Hungarian king and people to successfully resist the onslaught of Turkish invaders at the gates of Belgrade.\u00a0 After that engagement, he fell victim to the plague (sparked by the dead bodies that lay strewn and rotting all about the besieged city) and died.\u00a0 Throughout the years of his remarkable life, St John began every day with the same activities: rising before dawn, he prayed for an hour and celebrated Mass, only then would he go forth to build the Kingdom. Perhaps you are not called to such heights of sanctity (but perhaps you are), or to such a public mission in the Church (though you might be), but unless you carve time out of your social life for some study, prayer, and personal reflection \u2013 even if it\u2019s only a little \u2013 you may not find out your calling at all, which would be quite tragic. Your affectionate uncle, Eddy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Jean, Ever since you arrived at college your notes have narrated all the wonderful experiences you have been having.\u00a0 Unfortunately, all of those experiences are parties, dates, weekend road […]<\/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-142265","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