Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Celebrating the 600th Birthday of St. Joan of Arc


Joan of Arc

Prayer: “If I am not in God’s will or in God’s grace, may God put me there. And if I am, may God so keep me.”

I’m very much aware that Church of Our Saviour has a long tradition of being devoted to the rules of non-violent protest. I’ve lost count how many copies Mother Paula has put into my hands over the years. Honestly, the non-violent way is the way I honor most. But St. Joan of Arc reminds us of the truth found in Ecclesiastes;

 “There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under the sun:
There is a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to love and a time to hate, 

a time for war and a time for peace.”

To quote a magnificent documentary I’d just watched; “Joan of Arc was literally born and died in flames.” When she was born, January 6, 1412, the English had already been at war, destroying France for nearly 90 years. Joan watched as the English destroyed not only cities, but set fire to villages and crops, leaving her neighbors homeless and starving, leaving them that much easier to defeat. She watched as plagues, caused by the conditions of war, ravaged her neighbors. Naturally, Joan was angry and horrified. Surely, she cried to the Lord for mercy, for an end to war.

Perhaps, Joan should have been a little more careful about what she prayed for! When she was 13 years old, this young farm girl began to hear the voices of St. Catherine, St. Margaret and St. Michael. Among the things they told her was, her mission was two-fold;
1)      YOU fight the English, YOU stop them from starving and killing your people, as well as raping the land of its resources).

2) You make the way for Charles, the French Dauphin, to be crowned King of France.
Since the birth of modern psychiatry, it’s been popular for cynics to say St. Joan was schizophrenic. The truth is, there is no good evidence for this, none. Schizophrenics are often lost to reality, lost in the hallucinations of their own minds. There is no evidence that this was true of Joan. Her powers of observation and her wits were razor sharp, she was in full control of her faculties at all times.

So, how does a mere peasant girl go from her farm to see the Dauphin in his castle? It wasn’t easy. Joan’s family had forbidden her for years to make the journey and I’m sure made her know there would be dire consequences for disobedience. But Joan’s Saints gave her no rest and even though it meant disobeying her parents she was determined to go, saying; “If I have to walk and wear my legs down to the knees, I will go!”
Then she had to get past the nobility, in the form of Sir Robert de Baudricourt, who sent her away in humiliation 3 times, saying “her father should give her a good beating.” When at last, Joan convinced Sir Robert that she had a true vision for rescuing France from the iron fist of the English, she was then put the test in the court of the Dauphin. She was let into the court but not told which man was the heir to the French throne. They figured, if she was truly sent by God, she would recognize the future king no matter what disguise he wore or how hidden he may be. And she did! For Joan had the gift of prophecy. Joan so convinced Charles that she was sent by God to resurrect France that he made her the head of his army. A breath-taking moment in world history, Joan, at the age of 17 was and remains the youngest person to ever lead an army.
The army that Joan was put in charge of was embarrassed and resentful of her presence. Who was this little girl, who had no knowledge of strategy and no experience with weapons? There was no way these battle-hardened men were going to listen to her, regardless of what Charles commanded.
Not only that, but this army was demoralized. They had been fighting for generations and France was all but lost. They fought half-heartedly during the day, and at night they went back to their tents to gamble and spend time with prostitutes. From the generals to the lowliest warriors, they were full of their own ideas and own experiences, they had no room and no patience for Joan’s visions.

Joan was driven by compassion for her people and counse1ed by her voices, not the least of which was St. Michael the Archangel, defender of the military, the greatest strategic mind that God ever created. So, it didn’t matter if these warriors were full of their own ideas, Joan proceeded to empty them. She sent the prostitutes away, far away. She forbid the soldiers to gamble and she even forbid them to cuss or swear. Finally, she sent them all to Confession.

After Joan emptied these men, she filled them. She insisted that they begin each day with Eucharist. She also told them it was time to stop playing at war, time to focus and get serious. Just because the sun was going down didn’t mean the battle was over and they could all go back to their comfortable tents, eat dinner and go to bed. No! Joan told them, keep fighting! Fight until there is a winner or a loser. Period. In this way, she changed the face of war forever. So, she not only filled her men with a love for Eucharist, but with focus and determination.
She never asked her men to do anything she wouldn’t do. Joan was often at the head of every charge, twice she was wounded in battle, both times she fought to return to the battle field and had to be restrained at the rear until healed. This did not go un-noticed, so she also filled her men with admiration and a passion to see her mission fulfilled.
As a result, we see things like; Joan’s army annihilated the English at Patay, killing over 2,000 while suffering no losses themselves! And, Joan did see her Dauphin crowned King at Rheims.

Although Joan had a genius for war, she didn’t  love it. In fact, she hated it. She’s reported as saying; “every time I see French blood flow, my hair stands on end!”
Joan hated war so much, she often sent warnings to the English telling them to go home, telling them  she didn’t want to see them die and buried in the fields of France. Since Joan’s army had so much success, many of the English did heed her warnings and abandoned the fight to go home. This became a problem and the English warlords saw that Joan had to be discredited, if not killed.

These days, our leaders often demonize our enemies. How many times have we heard these sayings? “Better dead than Red” or, “The Axis of Evil”? Joan was very unusual in that she refused to demonize the English, she said; “I don’t know whether God loves or hates the English. I only know they will be cast out of
France.” How very remarkable.  If only for this reason, for seeing her enemies has human beings worthy of compassion, she was rightly Sainted!

These are more than just words! It’s been noted that once, an English soldier fell near her, mortally wounded. In her compassion, she bent to  help him and comfort him, but he soon died.
Lent is coming, quickly, you may want to ask yourselves; Do I see my neighbor’s land being taken away? Do I see my neighbor’s going hungry? Do I see my neighbor’s being denied medical care? For those of you taking stock of the challenges in your lives and the changes you want to make both in your own lives and in the communities around you, St. Joan has shown you the way; remove the inane distractions and little sins in your lives that are blocking your progress, make a good Confession, devote yourself to the Eucharist, make a plan on how to remove that evi1 and rep1ace it with good. Focus on that p1an, have a passion for it. Then and only then, will we see peace and relief of suffering. Joan knew these things, she worked for them, she died for them.

Although Joan’s army turned the tide and went a long way toward driving the English out of
France, she was captured by the English. She was put on trial as a heretic and as a witch. It didn’t matter that the Church of France had investigated Joan’s entire life for months on end and had found her to be a faithful and good Christian. The English had to discredit her, humiliate her and demonize her. And they did. Joan of Arc was burned at the stake on May 30, 1431, at the age of 19, because she refused to deny her mission from God and she chose to stand by her convictions. What courage! It took me almost 43 years to be ab1e to stand by my convictions. Joan said; “One life is all we have and we live it as we believe in living it. But to sacrifice what you are and to live a lie, that is a fate more terrible than dying.”

Happy 600th birthday, Joan! The Victory is yours.