Dear Julie,<\/p>\n
I can feel the joy pulsating through your last note.\u00a0 I am so glad that you are finally able to spend a summer doing what you\u2019ve always wanted to do.\u00a0 I hope it goes well.\u00a0 As your faithful uncle, however, I have to remind you that theatre people in general, and summer theatre people in particular, tend to be rather, well, how shall I put it \u2013 more emotional than moral.\u00a0 The schedule is sure to be daunting, so you\u2019ll need to work hard to fit some regular time for prayer each day.\u00a0 The best thing would be if you could find a place for daily Mass and a daily chat with our Lord in the Eucharist.\u00a0 That should arm you against the temptations that are sure to increase in intensity as you increase in exhaustion.\u00a0 The Eucharist is a great gift, as well as a great weapon, as today\u2019s saint demonstrates.<\/p>\n
Juliana was the only child of an older, wealthy Florentine couple who were also generous and devout.\u00a0 Her dad died when she was just a girl, and her holy uncle (St Alexis, one of the Founders of the Servite Order) took her and her mother under his wing.<\/p>\n
When she was 14 her mother began arranging a marriage for her.\u00a0 As soon as she found out, she objected.\u00a0 She explained that she wanted to consecrate her life to Christ.\u00a0 Her mother resisted, but Juliana\u2019s vocation was undeniable \u2013 in fact, it had been clear for years.\u00a0 So she took the habit as a Third Order Servite and lived at home in prayer, penance, and service for the next 18 years.\u00a0 Her mother not only accepted the daughter\u2019s vocation, but eventually even put herself under Juliana\u2019s direction until her death, after which Juliana moved to another house and helped found the Third Order of Servite nuns, dedicated to prayer and serving the sick.<\/p>\n
The Congregation flourished under her leadership, and even though she hadn\u2019t been the first to join the Order, she was elected its general, and given the task of writing up their constitutions.<\/p>\n
Throughout all the years of her taxing religious life, she would receive Holy Communion three times a week \u2013 an unheard of frequency for that epoch.\u00a0 But towards the end of her life her chronic gastric problems were exacerbated by other sicknesses, and even when she was on her deathbed she was unable to receive Communion due to fits of vomiting.<\/p>\n
Knowing that her last hour had come, however, she longed to receive our Lord.\u00a0 So she asked the priest to lay a corporal (the white cloth put on top of the altar for the liturgy of the Eucharist) on her chest and place the Host on top of it.\u00a0 This the priest did.\u00a0 No sooner had the Eucharist been laid over her heart than it disappeared, being miraculously consumed directly into her body.\u00a0 If fact, when she died soon after, they found the sign of the cross that had been on the host marked on her breast.\u00a0 Ever since, the Servites have emblazoned an image of a shining host on the left breast of their habits.<\/p>\n
So now you can see why I think staying close to the Eucharist is the surest way to turn this exciting summer into a time of deep spiritual and personal growth, not just artistic development.\u00a0 Our Lord is a strong defense, if we stay close to Him.<\/p>\n
Your loving uncle,<\/p>\n
Eddy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Julie, I can feel the joy pulsating through your last note.\u00a0 I am so glad that you are finally able to spend a summer doing what you\u2019ve always wanted […]<\/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-142499","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