Dear Charlie,<\/p>\n
I know you love acting, but do you realize what you\u2019re getting into?\u00a0 Maybe God does want you to evangelize that subculture, but maybe he wants you to put your talents to use elsewhere.\u00a0 It worries me to have you trying to sell yourself in audition after audition.\u00a0 It\u2019s so competitive, and the environment is so morally adrift, that your own moral standards may be eroded without you knowing it.\u00a0 I\u2019m not saying don\u2019t try it; I\u2019m just saying make sure you know what\u2019s at stake.\u00a0 And if you do follow through with this, you should make today\u2019s saints your patrons.<\/p>\n
Charles and companions died for their fidelity to Christ.\u00a0 Most of them were members of King Mwanga\u2019s royal court.\u00a0 (Mwanga was king of the Kingdom of Buganda, now part of Uganda.)\u00a0 They had become Christian under the influence of the White Fathers, Catholic missionaries to sub-Saharan Africa.\u00a0 (Actually, some of the martyrs were Anglicans too; together they prayed and together they died.)\u00a0 And even when the missionaries had to leave the area, the Christians continued living and spreading their faith.\u00a0 But King Mwanga noticed that although the Christians were faithful subjects and servants, they didn\u2019t fear him as much as the pagans did, and they refused to be victims of his debaucheries.\u00a0 Little be little, therefore, his lust for power turned his heart against the Christians, even though they were model members of the community.\u00a0 He and his henchmen enticed some of the Christians to abandon their faith, but they wouldn\u2019t.\u00a0 That\u2019s when the executions started.\u00a0 And they snowballed until twenty-two of them were arrested, tortured, and hideously executed.<\/p>\n
I will spare you the gross details \u2013 well, maybe one example.\u00a0 A particularly high-ranking Christian, the 50-year-old St Matthias Mulumba, had his arms and legs hacked off and pieces of his flesh burned right in front of him.\u00a0 To prolong his agony his arteries were sealed and he was left to die in the broiling sun.\u00a0 Two days later he was still languishing.\u00a0 His was an especially painful martyrdom, but the others\u2019 weren\u2019t too far behind.<\/p>\n
But back to my point.\u00a0 Going into acting is like going into Mwanga\u2019s Kingdom \u2013 the culture is all about vanity and pride and sensuality.\u00a0 It\u2019s in the air.\u00a0 And if you\u2019re not careful, you\u2019ll get infected.\u00a0 What should you do?\u00a0 Do what St Charles and his companions did: they prayed.\u00a0 They prayed daily; they prayed as they were led along their long march to the pyre where they were bound and burned alive; they prayed as the pyre was lit and the flames devoured them, they prayed and prayed and prayed.\u00a0 In fact, these Ugandan martyrs were so dedicated to prayer that they were known not as \u201cChristians\u201d but as \u201cThose-who-pray.\u201d\u00a0 And such was the title by which King Mwanga condemned them.<\/p>\n
If you too can make yourself worthy of such a title while you navigate the moral morass of the entertainment industry, I am confident that you will stay faithful, till the end, for the glory of God and for your own deep happiness.<\/p>\n
Your devoted Uncle,<\/p>\n
Eddy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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