Dear Lucy, I share your deep sadness at the spread of this unchristian spiritualism.\u00a0 I am sorry that you are being forced to live so close to it, having a witch as a roommate and pagans and Wiccans coming in and out all the time.\u00a0 But do you not think Providence had a hand in this residential arrangement?\u00a0 Do you not think that God is as interested in winning those souls back to the true religion of Christ as they are in discovering true meaning and happiness?\u00a0 I would say that God has called you to exercise the priestly powers of your baptism (every baptized Christian shares in the priesthood of Christ; ordained priests are conformed more fully to it) and be a bridge between him and them.\u00a0 Your example, your words, and your prayers will serve him well to bring them home.\u00a0 It kind of reminds me of today\u2019s saints. The two fellows lived in Turkey and enthusiastically practiced black magic.\u00a0 They were particularly fascinated with casting spells and charms on people \u2013 and they were good at it.\u00a0 They met their match, however, when they tried to bewitch a beautiful Christian maiden.\u00a0 Their magical antics lost all their power in her regard, and they were amazed.\u00a0 It was a moment of grace.\u00a0 Fascinated by her \u201cpower\u201d they asked for instruction in the faith and soon received baptism.\u00a0 Together they retreated for a time into the wilderness, where they learned to pray and did penance for their past excesses.\u00a0 Later, they reemerged in order to spread this good news they had found, and when the persecution of the Emperor Decius broke out, they were among the first in the region to be apprehended and put on trial for their faith.\u00a0 Refusing to sacrifice to the very idols they had worshipped before, they were duly tortured and eventually burned alive.\u00a0 They went into the flames singing and praising God, looking forward to meeting him face to face. My dear niece, you have received the grace of knowing and believing in the one true God \u2013 and you mustn\u2019t keep it to yourself.\u00a0 Be confident and calm as you build your friendship with those classmates who have not received that grace, and trust that as you look for the right way to teach them about Christ, God will be hard at work in their hearts. Love, Uncle Eddy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Lucy, I share your deep sadness at the spread of this unchristian spiritualism.\u00a0 I am sorry that you are being forced to live so close to it, having a […]<\/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-142268","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