Dear Tony,<\/p>\n
Without a doubt, winning membership in Phi Beta Kappa as a junior is commendable.\u00a0 But I have to tell you that I am not surprised.\u00a0 Just remember amid your glee that your extraordinary intelligence and the good study habits that are allowing it to flower are due not to your own merit, but to God\u2019s graciousness and your parents\u2019 wisdom.\u00a0 And also remember that getting good grades, though important, is not the end-all and be-all of life \u2013 at least, not for a Christian.\u00a0 On that note, you may find it useful to reflect on the life of today\u2019s saint.<\/p>\n
Antonia was the second of ten children born to a peasant family on the Island of Sardinia, off the west coast of Italy.\u00a0 She grew up between World War I and II, when education was being made available even for the poorest of children.\u00a0 But after just four years of school, she was forced to leave her studies behind so that she could take over the housekeeping for her mother, who had been confined to bed by a painful heart condition.\u00a0 She accepted this hardship humbly and joyfully.<\/p>\n
Antonia didn\u2019t let either her lack of education or her poverty keep her from loving Christ.\u00a0 When she was ten, she joined Catholic Action, Italy\u2019s national apostolic movement for lay people.\u00a0 She was a model member, and energetically fulfilled her commitments and recruited other young people to join the group.\u00a0 As she continued to work and to build up the Church, she was exercising all the Christian virtues \u2013 to honor Christ and live in friendship with him was her first care and her first priority.<\/p>\n
On one afternoon when she was 16, she went out to gather wood for the stove at home.\u00a0 Alone, she was accosted by another, older teenager, a boy who tried to rape her.\u00a0 She resisted, and he beat her.\u00a0 She continued to resist, and he continued to beat her, trying to force her submission.\u00a0 But she knew that her body was a Temple of the Holy Spirit, and she would not submit.\u00a0 The would-be rapist\u2019s anger grew into fury, and he beat her to death.<\/p>\n
Antonia is a beatified saint.\u00a0 She was faithful to her Lord, and her virtue has infused (and continues to infuse) strength and grace into the Church.\u00a0 That, my bright young nephew, is a life worth living, however brief \u2013 notwithstanding the unfortunate fact that she barely even knew how to read.\u00a0 I encourage you to follow in her footsteps, always keeping first things first, regardless of Phi Beta Kappa pins and parties.<\/p>\n
Your loving uncle,<\/p>\n
Eddy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Tony, Without a doubt, winning membership in Phi Beta Kappa as a junior is commendable.\u00a0 But I have to tell you that I am not surprised.\u00a0 Just remember amid […]<\/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-142469","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