Dear Mariza,<\/p>\n
I owe you my most heartfelt congratulations.\u00a0 You are now a graduate of one of the world\u2019s finest institutions of higher learning, and the first of your family to earn a college degree.\u00a0 It is no mean accomplishment.\u00a0 You can be sure that here in the buzzing shadows of these infernal fluorescent lights, I am sharing your joy.\u00a0 If your parents were alive, I am sure they would be beaming.\u00a0 Come to think of it, they are probably beaming now more than they would have been beaming if there were still confined to this earth.<\/p>\n
But as your uncle, I feel obliged to temper my congratulations with an appropriate avuncular warning.\u00a0 The world is a hungry place.\u00a0 It\u2019s hungry for souls.\u00a0 And as you launch out to conquer it, be careful.\u00a0 Because of your achievements and talents, it will try to make you forget about God and bask in the self-defeating light of yourself.\u00a0 Don\u2019t let it.\u00a0 Follow the example of today\u2019s saint.<\/p>\n
St Mary Mazzarello founded the Congregation of the Daughters of Mary the Help of Christians in 1867, under the guidance of another great saint, John Bosco, in northern Italy.\u00a0 For the next 14 years her good humor, common sense, hard work, and simple (but oh so profound) prayer life enabled her to turn the little group of fifteen young ladies into a flourishing, international force to be reckoned with, one of the largest congregations in the Church.\u00a0 They dedicated themselves to educating poor girls (and this was long before the feminist movement had got going), and were so successful that their students have become influential members of society in every walk of life throughout the world.<\/p>\n
The funny thing is St Mary herself was uneducated.\u00a0 She was unsophisticated.\u00a0 She was a peasant, with rough hands and a strong back.\u00a0 And yet, God used her to launch a vast work of education.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the lesson for you.\u00a0 By nature, you are just the opposite of St Mary: bright, educated, cultured, lovely, familiar with the ways of high society\u2026\u00a0 And yet, in order to accomplish truly worthwhile achievements in the world, you need to become just like St Mary in your heart.\u00a0 You need to have one desire: to please Jesus, your Lord, your King. \u00a0Only he can give you lasting happiness.\u00a0 That\u2019s St Mary\u2019s message to you, and if you\u2019re not careful, it will get drowned out in the hubbub and glitter of the world you are diving into.<\/p>\n
The only graduation present I can give you is a phrase from St Mary.\u00a0 Please keep it close to your heart, and look at it more often than you will look at your diploma.\u00a0 If you do, you won\u2019t derail: \u201cSpeak little to creatures, but speak much with God.\u00a0 He will make you truly wise.\u201d\u00a0 And True Wisdom is where Success is really at.<\/p>\n
Your devoted Uncle,<\/p>\n
Eddy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Mariza, I owe you my most heartfelt congratulations.\u00a0 You are now a graduate of one of the world\u2019s finest institutions of higher learning, and the first of your family […]<\/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-142463","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