Dear Chris,<\/p>\n
All right, maybe you don\u2019t have the mind of Aristotle, the body of Hercules, or the voice of the Muses, but that doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t do anything for Christ\u2019s Kingdom.\u00a0 I am constantly amazed at the lack of imagination shown by my nieces and nephews these days.\u00a0 It must be the pernicious influence of television.\u00a0 In any case, I will take the liberty of reminding you that you have a particular gift of placidity.\u00a0 You are a peaceful, easy-going guy.\u00a0 Now that is a gift of nature and of grace, and if you invest it well, you will yield impressive returns.\u00a0 How to invest it?\u00a0 I think you can find some good clues from today\u2019s saint.<\/p>\n
Crispin (his original name was Peter) was born into a devout Catholic family in central Italy back in the seventeenth century.\u00a0 He determined to enter the Capuchin monastery, but his frail health made the novice master nervous.\u00a0 After overcoming all resistance he entered that community, however, and he ended up living as a faithful religious for the next 57 years.<\/p>\n
He held many unglamorous posts during his years as a friar \u2013 cook, gardener, handy-man\u2026\u00a0 For the majority of his life, however, he was \u201cquestor\u201d of the friary in Orvieto (a small town not too far north of Rome).\u00a0 Being questor entailed going on daily begging trips around the town in order to gather necessities for the monks, as well as for the poor and sick who were under the Capuchin community\u2019s care.<\/p>\n
He prefaced his daily tours with assiduous prayer, and accompanied it with a constant interior conversation with the Virgin Mary, with whom he had a close relationship.<\/p>\n
This duty put him in contact with everyone in the town.\u00a0 He got to know all the families, all the feuds, all the needs, all the talents \u2013 everything.\u00a0 And he took advantage of this unique position to work full-time as a peacemaker.\u00a0 He was always helping people solve their problems, mediating disputes, and ironing out antipathies.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t shun the tough encounters either: chiding merchants for their selfishness and magistrates for their injustice and aristocrats for their lack of generosity.\u00a0 And such conquests only increased the goodness that flowed throughout the city from his efforts.\u00a0 The humble beggar, for all practical purposes, was the town mayor and police chief and pastor and lawyer, all rolled into one.\u00a0 His begging filled the mouths and clothed the backs of the friars and the poor and the orphans, and his peacemaking filled with peace the hearts of all.<\/p>\n
Couldn\u2019t you do something similar on campus, in your dorm?\u00a0 All Christians ought to be peacemakers, even those with naturally abrasive temperaments.\u00a0 How much more should you who are gifted with gentleness and a pleasing manner be spreading the sweet aroma of Christ into the foul hearts of sinners.<\/p>\n
Your devoted uncle,<\/p>\n
Eddy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Chris, All right, maybe you don\u2019t have the mind of Aristotle, the body of Hercules, or the voice of the Muses, but that doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t do anything […]<\/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":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","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-142451","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