Dear Jack,<\/p>\n
So, my prosperous young nephew, what is it you will be doing with all that money you\u2019ve made this summer?\u00a0 I know; it\u2019s none of my business.\u00a0 But it is Christ\u2019s business.\u00a0 The talents and opportunities that enabled you to have such a lucrative vacation came, ultimately, from him.\u00a0 And he gives his gifts for a reason.\u00a0 So the least you can do is be responsible with them.\u00a0 So as you savor your treasure, keep today\u2019s saint in mind \u2013 he was wise with his dollars.<\/p>\n
St John Vianney is the only parish priest who stayed a parish priest his whole life and is now a canonized saint.\u00a0 He was just a country boy from southeastern France.\u00a0 His father resisted his vocation and he had a terrible time completing the studies required for ordination.\u00a0 When he made his way to his assignment in the little town of Ars, where religious fervor had been doused by the bloody persecutions of the French revolution, he began the long and difficult transformation of his parishioners.\u00a0 The first thing he did was take on extraordinary personal penances to make up for their sins.\u00a0 Besides thirty years of daily (and violent) visitations by the Devil (who set his bed on fire one time), constant envious calumny from his fellow priests, and unending financial stress upon his numerous charitable projects (sometimes he had to resort to miracles in order to feed his orphans \u2013 one time, for example, the cook ended up making 200 pounds of bread from a few pounds of flour that the saint had blessed), from the very beginning a growing number of pilgrims deluged his confessional morning till night, sometimes requiring him to hear confession for 15 hours a day.\u00a0 Though his dedication and holiness produced prodigious results (he could read souls and he prophesied about people\u2019s future on a regular basis, as a way to help their conversion; he performed a steady flow of miraculous healings; and the people of his town thoroughly cleaned up their act) a burning desire for the silence and solitude of the contemplative life never left him. Three times he even tried to \u201cescape\u201d from Ars to a nearby Carthusian monastery, but upon the bishop\u2019s orders, he always returned.<\/p>\n
Towards the end of his life, the flood of pilgrims filled his parish coffers with donations.\u00a0 He was able to finish fixing up the parish grounds and school and pay off his debts.\u00a0 But the money kept pouring in.\u00a0 So what did he do with it?\u00a0 Did he move his \u201clifestyle\u201d up a notch?\u00a0 Invest in a brand new buggy?\u00a0 Nope.\u00a0 He started to sponsor \u201cperpetual missions\u201d in neighboring parishes.\u00a0 These were like little foundations that would finance a missionary priest (or two) to come yearly to preach a parish mission.\u00a0 They were designed to make sure everyone gets to confession, to rekindle the fire of faith, and to gather in any sheep who may have strayed from the Lord.\u00a0 They were expensive affairs.\u00a0 So St John would save up his pilgrimage donations until he had enough for a mission, then he would send it off.\u00a0 Then he would start saving again, and sponsor another.\u00a0 When he would get close to having the right amount, he would even go begging to make up the difference, so eager was he to get another mission off the ground.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the right attitude to have towards money.\u00a0 There\u2019s nothing wrong with enjoying the normal comforts of life, but in the end, using money wisely, in accordance with truly Christian priorities \u2013 that\u2019s the way to \u201cstore up your treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust can destroy them\u201d, as our Lord said (Matthew 6:20).<\/p>\n
Your devoted uncle,<\/p>\n
Eddy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Jack, So, my prosperous young nephew, what is it you will be doing with all that money you\u2019ve made this summer?\u00a0 I know; it\u2019s none of my business.\u00a0 But […]<\/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-142545","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