Dear Jim,<\/p>\n
So the little urchins are getting on your nerves, eh?\u00a0 Then now is the perfect time to be like Christ.\u00a0 Your role as a camp counselor is to help those campers mature, grow, and become better human beings.\u00a0 And since it\u2019s a Catholic camp, that includes helping them discover the dignity and the glory of their vocation in Christ.\u00a0 They should finish the summer on fire for Christ and his Kingdom.\u00a0 If right now they aren\u2019t on fire for anything except setting each other on fire, there\u2019s no need to worry.\u00a0 If they were already in shape, there would be no need for camps, or counselors.\u00a0 Since they\u2019re not, you\u2019ve got a job \u2013 a very Christlike job too, as today\u2019s saint illustrates.<\/p>\n
James the Greater was St John the Evangelist\u2019s older brother, one of the three Apostles to whom Jesus gave special attention.\u00a0 But he was no saint when Christ called him.\u00a0 As a matter of fact, Jesus nicknamed him and his brother \u201cSons of Thunder,\u201d which shows you how meek and self-controlled they were.\u00a0 One time, when a town in Samaria refused to host Christ and the disciples for the night, the brothers asked permission to call down fire and brimstone to demolish the place \u2013 how\u2019s that for gentle, sweet piety! (Christ did not grant them the permission, by the way.)\u00a0 Later on they even approached the Lord (actually, they sent their mother to approach him for them) to request the second and third ranks in his Kingdom.\u00a0 How\u2019s that for calm and patient humility!<\/p>\n
And yet, it was men like these, impetuous and full of passion, whom Christ chose to be his intimate companions and closest collaborators.\u00a0 Their love for him and their desire to serve him gave them the strength they needed to build virtue by mastering their natural tendencies (I am sure the Holy Spirit helped out a bit as well).\u00a0 James ended up as the first Apostle to be martyred, and his dignity and self-control in the face of the trumped-up charges leveled against him during the trial so moved the onlookers that his accuser became a Christian on the spot.\u00a0 As the two walked to their execution together, the convert asked James to forgive him for turning him in.\u00a0 The Apostle looked at him, said \u201cPeace be with you,\u201d and embraced him \u2013 a far cry from the earlier fire and brimstone.<\/p>\n
It was Christ\u2019s love, his truth, and above all his example of all the virtues that won over St James and all the other Apostles.\u00a0 It was the grace of the Holy Spirit that transformed them.\u00a0 So be like Christ, and constantly pray for the Holy Spirit to come among your campers, and the rest should take care of itself.<\/p>\n
Your loving uncle,<\/p>\n
Eddy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Jim, So the little urchins are getting on your nerves, eh?\u00a0 Then now is the perfect time to be like Christ.\u00a0 Your role as a camp counselor is to […]<\/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-142536","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