Dear Frummel, How nice to hear that you aced your midterms.\u00a0 Of course, don\u2019t think I\u2019m blind.\u00a0 I know very well that you barely studied at all \u2013 just enough, in fact, to do better than everyone else.\u00a0 But, as I have told you hundreds of times, God doesn\u2019t need you just to do better than everybody else; he needs you to do your <\/u>best.\u00a0 If he gave you extraordinary intellectual capacities, it\u2019s for a reason, and if you leave them only partially developed, although that might insure your own honor and comfort, it will compromise his plan for your life and your contribution to the Kingdom.\u00a0 Study for life, for God\u2019s glory \u2013 not just to ace your exams!\u00a0 Ugh.\u00a0 It pains me to see you frittering away your potential.\u00a0 You are a college student; your primary duty is your intellectual formation (not to minimize your character and faith formation, but \u201cstudents\u201d are supposed to be \u201clearning through studying\u201d).\u00a0 If you faithfully fulfill your duty, God will be able to lead you along the path he has planned out for you \u2013 if not, who knows what will happen?\u00a0 That reminds me of today\u2019s saint, actually. A Palestinian philosopher named Meropius had two young disciples, Frumentius and Aedesius.\u00a0 He took them on a voyage to the coastlands of Arabia as part of their education (and a nice trip for him), and on the way back the ship stopped off in Ethiopia (where the Red Sea meets the Indian ocean).\u00a0 While docked, the natives massacred the sailors and all the passengers (including Meropius \u2013 philosophy did not save him) and looted their merchandise.\u00a0 It so happened that the two boys were not with sailors at the time of the attack; they were off STUDYING (as they should have been) under a tree on the other side of the lea.\u00a0 When the victorious (and glutted) Ethiopians found the boys, they brought them to their king, who was duly impressed with their Christian bearing, prudence, and gentility.\u00a0 He hired them on (well, they didn\u2019t exactly have much choice in the matter) as cupbearer and secretary.\u00a0 They served their king well, and as their influence and reputation increased, they began to make inroads in evangelizing the country.\u00a0 Out of gratitude, the dying king granted them their freedom, but they acquiesced to the queen\u2019s petition and remained on to help keep affairs in order as the young prince grew into manhood.\u00a0 When he eventually took the throne, Aedesius returned to Palestine.\u00a0 But Frumentius wanted nothing more than the conversion of the entire people to the true faith, and so he traveled north to Alexandria and begged St Athanasius (Patriarch there) to send a bishop to the Ethiopians.\u00a0 St Athanasius was in tune with the Holy Spirit, and ordained Frumentius to the episcopate, assigning him the very task.\u00a0 He returned and began the slow but effective work, bolstering his heartfelt sermons with more than a few miracles, and made much progress (though not without encountering opposition) before he died some years later. Just think, my precocious little nephew \u2013 if Frumentius had been gaming with the sailors or otherwise neglecting the duties of his state in life, he would have been massacred with the rest and this whole chapter of Church history would have never been written.\u00a0 Humph.\u00a0 May this saint\u2019s example not go to waste. Sincerely your Uncle, Eddy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Frummel, How nice to hear that you aced your midterms.\u00a0 Of course, don\u2019t think I\u2019m blind.\u00a0 I know very well that you barely studied at all \u2013 just enough, […]<\/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-142269","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