Dear Rod,<\/p>\n
I\u2019m glad to hear that your first foray into politics is \u201cdizzyingly exciting and immensely promising\u201d.\u00a0 I have been telling you and your cousins for years that one of the most courageous and charitable decisions a young Catholic can make these days is to go into politics, committed to being a truly Christian civil servant \u2013 finally one of you has taken up the challenge!\u00a0 Will you allow your poor uncle to give a tiny bit of advice?\u00a0 It has to do with today\u2019s saint.<\/p>\n
Fulrad was born in northeastern France (Alsace) and early on discovered his vocation to become a priest in the Benedictine monastic order.\u00a0 He threw himself into his calling, and he showed a capacity not only for God, but also for administration, organization, and other fields requiring the virtue of prudence.\u00a0 He founded a few new monasteries, and his fame spread.\u00a0 It spread so much, in fact, that in 750 he was elected abbot of the famous monastery of St Denis (named after one of the first evangelizer\u2019s of France), near Paris.<\/p>\n
At the time, the Merovingian dynasty (Clovis and company) had dissipated, and the Carolingian\u2019s were on the rise.\u00a0 These kings \u2013 Pepin, then his son Carloman, then the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne \u2013 showed great leadership and transformed the Frankish Kingdom into the first Christian Empire in the West, launching the great experiment of Christendom, which was destined to have such a profound effect on the development of Europe and, through Europe, the rest of the world.<\/p>\n
But these great political leaders couldn\u2019t rule by brawn and brains alone.\u00a0 They needed a heart, a soul.\u00a0 This they found in St Fulrad, who served all three rulers as councilor, chaplain, almoner (distributor of the royal finances), and ambassador.\u00a0 For more than 30 years he provided strong kings with Christian wisdom in order to help the great ship of state steer a steady, fruitful course.\u00a0 He never neglected his pursuit of holiness, but he gladly put that holiness at the service of the world around him.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s my point.\u00a0 Don\u2019t ever think you can do the great things your heart yearns to do all alone.\u00a0 You will need advisors and guides, wise friends whom you can trust to speak Christ\u2019s truth to you when your power and responsibilities may make it hard to hear.\u00a0 By all means, pursue greatness in politics, but find yourself a Fulrad to make sure it\u2019s always truly Great.<\/p>\n
Your loving uncle,<\/p>\n
Eddy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Rod, I\u2019m glad to hear that your first foray into politics is \u201cdizzyingly exciting and immensely promising\u201d.\u00a0 I have been telling you and your cousins for years that one […]<\/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-142527","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