Dear Larry, Do I detect an air of surprise in your last note?\u00a0 But why are you surprised?\u00a0 Are you the first to be spoken badly of by the very people you are trying to help?\u00a0 Hardly.\u00a0 If they are trying to brand you \u201carch conservative\u201d and \u201chomophobic\u201d and \u201cmisogynist\u201d and \u201chypocritical\u201d simply because you are doing what you can to get the Church\u2019s teaching aired in that relativism-infested atmosphere on campus, that\u2019s par for the course.\u00a0 \u201cBlessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and speak all kinds of evil against you on my account\u2026\u201d (Matthew 5:11), our Lord pointed out.\u00a0 Surprise, forgive me for being blunt, is not at all the proper reaction in this situation; silence, patience, and perseverance are. You may find the example of today\u2019s saint instructive in this regard.\u00a0 St Laurence had a tough childhood, being taken hostage during an Irish clan war and treated badly for years by his captor.\u00a0 Eventually, however, his father retrieved him, and he expressed his desire to \u201chave for my inheritance the service of God in the Church\u201d \u2013 perhaps his up-close-and-personal experience of worldly affairs had given him some otherworldly wisdom.\u00a0 In any case, he learned the art of holiness quickly and by the time he was 25 was abbot of an important monastery, which he governed with prudence and virtue well beyond his age.\u00a0 As he orchestrated grand works of charity to succor the local inhabitants during years of famine and defended the monastery from the numerous bands of roving outlaws, he also instilled discipline and order in his community through his words and example.\u00a0 And that\u2019s where the trouble started.\u00a0 Some of the monks who preferred a looser and less virtuous arrangement of religious life began slandering the young abbot.\u00a0 It was only through silence, patience, and perseverance that Laurence weathered the storm.\u00a0 And it\u2019s a good thing he did, since he went on to become the second Archbishop of Dublin, as which he was responsible for a profound spiritual renewal throughout Ireland and ongoing peace negations between the English and the Irish. So don\u2019t be surprised at these nasty responses, just be virtuous. Sincerely, Uncle Eddy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Larry, Do I detect an air of surprise in your last note?\u00a0 But why are you surprised?\u00a0 Are you the first to be spoken badly of by the very […]<\/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-142287","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