Many Memorials

Today is a day of many memorials. In the United States, it is a Federal holiday honouring those men and women who died in the military service. While in the popular media this has become merely an excuse for a three-day weekend and countless barbeques, many folks, myself included, hang out the flag and do our best to honour the memory of these brave soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines.

Today the Church celebrates memorials to Saint Ferdinand III of Castile, Saint Isaac of Dalmatia, and (according to the 2005 Martyrologium Romanum) Saint Petronilla, and Saints

Otto Neururer, a priest who died in Buchenwald and Luke Kirby, a priest who died on the Tyburn Tree along with William Filby, Lawrence John son and Thomas Cottam during the reign of Elizabeth I. There are also William Scott, Richard Newport in the reign of James I. Matthis Kalemba was killed by Muslims in Uganda. In ancient times St. Gabinus died a martyr in Sardinia. St. Dymphna died in Brabant.

However, and in keeping with today’s martial spirit, I’d like to focus on the great Saint Joan of Arc, whose feast day is also celebrated today.

Specifically, I’d like to highlight some parts of Pope Benedict XVI’s talk on her during his general audience of January 26, 2011, which brings out some things about the Saint that I’d never considered.

From my study of Medieval history, I’d always held an admiration for the military prowess of this unschooled Maid of Orleans. Almost half the major battles won by the French during the Hundred Years’ War were won by Joan during the year she was with the French army.

The VIS titled the Pope’s talk “Joan of Arc: Bringing the Light of the Gospel into History“, and here are the passages that struck me, which form my lectio for today:

The young French peasant girl’s compassion and dedication in the face of her people’s suffering were intensified by her mystical relationship with God. One of the most original aspects of this young woman’s holiness was precisely this link between mystical experience and political mission. The years of her hidden life and her interior development were followed by the brief but intense two years of her public life: a year of action and a year of passion.

and

The Trial was the dramatic encounter between this Saint and her judges, who were clerics. Joan was accused and convicted by them, even condemned as a heretic and sent to the terrible death of being burned at the stake. Unlike the holy theologians who had illuminated the University of Paris, such as St Bonaventure, St Thomas Aquinas and Bl. Duns Scotus, of whom I have spoken in several Catecheses, these judges were theologians who lacked charity and the humility to see God’s action in this young woman.

The words of Jesus, who said that God’s mysteries are revealed to those who have a child’s heart while they remain hidden to the learned and the wise who have no humility (cf. Lk 10:21), spring to mind. Thus, Joan’s judges were radically incapable of understanding her or of perceiving the beauty of her soul. They did not know that they were condemning a Saint.

and finally,

Dear brothers and sisters, the Name of Jesus, invoked by our Saint until the very last moments of her earthly life was like the continuous breathing of her soul, like the beating of her heart, the centre of her whole life. The Mystery of the Charity of Joan of Arc which so fascinated the poet Charles Péguy was this total love for Jesus and for her neighbour in Jesus and for Jesus. This Saint had understood that Love embraces the whole of the reality of God and of the human being, of Heaven and of earth, of the Church and of the world. Jesus always had pride of place in her life, in accordance to her beautiful affirmation: “We must serve God first”. Loving him means always doing his will. She declared with total surrender and trust: “I entrust myself to God my Creator, I love him with my whole heart”

Go read the whole thing.

Now to mow the lawn!