St Joan of Arc (Feast Day 30-May)

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, Amen. Yesterday, we reflected on the amazing reality that the great Queen Isabella, called the Catholic, acted as a type for our times and what is to come in the near future. Now perhaps you were thinking, well how is it that a queen could be a type for a great king? The answer is that she represents the Church, the Bride of Christ, as well as the Blessed Virgin. The Church? Well, because it will be through the Church that the King to come will be great. He will only be great by aiding the Pope to re-establish all things in Christ. She also represents Our Lady insofar as the age which Isabella's Spain typifies will be the age of Mary, when her Immaculate Heart will conquer. Listen to St. Louis de Montfort, he says, The power of Mary over all devils will be particularly outstanding in the last period of time. She will extend the Kingdom of Christ over the idolaters and Muslims. And there will come a glorious era when Mary is the ruler and queen of hearts. St. Louis de Montfort. Now today, I would like to consider one more of these sorts of types, because they bring much comfort. I don't know about you, but they do me. Thank you God for these beautiful types. They bring comfort to my soul, and they should to yours as well. And they strengthen our faith in dark times. What a wonderful God we have. How he works things out in such a wonderful way. Well first, let's review the important insight of blessed John Henry Newman. We mentioned yesterday his view of history. It's very interesting. It's correct. He says, In truth, every event in the world is a type of those that follow. History proceeding forward as a circle ever enlarging. For every age presents its own picture of those future events which alone are the full or real fulfillment of the prophecy which stands at the head of them all. Blessed John Henry Newman. So every age is, as it were, somehow foreshadowing the next. Some more than others. Now compare this to the communist view of history that is still very prevalent in our time. Maybe even among those who have a miter on. Communism basically adopts the Hegelian Darwinian view of history. Namely that history proceeds to perfection by means of conflicts. Philosophically they say there is a thesis, some event or reality. Then there's an antithesis, an opposing event or reality. These two then struggle such that some synthesis is produced. Thesis, antithesis, synthesis. It is an evolution based system. That makes it false, by the way. Evolution is a fairy tale. It's a fable. It doesn't exist in any way whatsoever. It's a complete falsehood. This is why communism wants class struggle, wants discord between men and women, husbands and wives, between countries and everybody they can. Why? So that some future synthesis will come forth. It's a truly hellish view of history and has produced many hellish effects. Namely atheism and the death and damnation, likely, of millions upon millions of people. For God, however, history is about his church. He made the universe for his bride. Saint John of the Cross says God made the world to be a palace for his bride. The 19th century Carmelite mystic, Blessed Francis Palau, says the church, what does he say? He says she is the mistress of the universe. All creatures serve her. Apart from her, there is no possible happiness for mankind. Well said. That is key. Order, harmony, perfection in this world flow from the church, the mystical body of Christ. There's no evolution or thesis, antithesis, synthesis, nonsense with her. Instead, in her, there is what? Conformity. Conformity to God and his holy will, to his established order. This is what brings harmony, perfection in the world. And the good God gives us many indications of this by using types. So in the time remaining to us, let us consider another type of our days and those that are in front of us. And here I have Saint Joan of Arc in mind. Carmelites have always been devoted to her, especially Saint Therese. Now she, like Queen Isabella, was a woman representing the church and what the church would do. So when you read the life of Saint Joan, think of the church. Joan was virginal. She was very pure, loving purity. According to one story, the only time she ever used her sword was to break it on the back of a woman, camp follower, who was up to no good and would not leave. She aided her along with her sword. The church is ever pure and virginal. Blessed Francis Palau, again, listen to his beautiful words. I saw her beauty had a vision of the church. I saw her beauty always young, always virgin, all perfection without stain or wrinkle, infinitely lovable. Blessed Francis, thank you. The Joan is a prefigurement, a type of this truth. When Mark Twain wrote his biography of Saint Joan, he said it was the best work he ever did, but he said he called her easily and by the far the most extraordinary person the human race has ever produced. Now, when I first read that, I was shocked. I'm like, no, you're wrong. No, actually, he's right. Why? Because he was seeing the church in her and the church is the best, the highest, the greatest, the most beautiful. And what he mistaken in her person was the church, so he didn't see the type. If someone would have explained it to him, perhaps he would have become Catholic. The virginal Joan rose up young and brought forth a king. She helped him realize he was to be the king and paved the way for his crowning. She entered into reams on Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and he was crowned the very next day, July 17th. There might be some connection there with Carmel as the Compiègne martyrs died on the 17th of July for the crown. Saint Joan of Arc was captured in Compiègne. Well, she did this. How did she do this? Well, she restored God's holy order in the army. The church will do the very same in the future by means of a holy pope. Through the church, the great monarch prophesied to come by so many great saints will arise and have all doubts removed and be crowned, and he will re-establish God's holy church, the holy order with the pope. Through Saint Joan's efforts, great things happened. For example, the Hundred Years' War was ended after her death, and France regained her sovereignty, thereby preventing her from falling under the future schismatic tyrannical English King Henry VIII. But Joan, in her life, we also find prefigured how the devil and his Antichrist work in the world. Now, listen to Father Frederick Faber. These are some powerful words that very much touch upon what is happening in the church today. Many of us have experienced what he's talking about. Here's what he says. We must remember that if all the manifestly good men were on one side and all the manifestly bad men on the other, there would be no danger of anyone, least of all the elect, being deceived by lying wonders. It is the good men, once good, and we must hope good still, who are to do the work of the Antichrist, and so sadly to crucify the Lord afresh. Bear in mind this feature of the last days, that is, this deceitfulness arises from good men being on the wrong side. Somehow, the Antichrist is going to get good men to oppose God's church, and they're going to be inside. That's why we would say they're good men. Here's another expression of this idea. Of all tyrannies, the tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. Wow, this is what an idealist communist will do. Foment struggle for our own good. Crack eggs for our own good, and by cracking eggs, they mean killing people. But the point here is this. The devil and his Antichrist will somehow get even good men to torment their fellows for their own good with the approval of their own conscience. They can't see they're doing anything wrong. For example, we can take the plight of our Holy Father, Saint John of the Cross, under the old carms. How they imprisoned him and nearly starved him to death. They used psychological warfare on him too, all for his own good. They scourged him daily in the refectory. During this time of trial, the restoration of Carmel, our Holy Mother, Saint Teresa, described it as, quote, a foretaste of the last judgment. In other words, this is going to happen. That's what she said, a foretaste of the last judgment, end quote. Saint Joan was tried and executed for her own good. In this, she realized that her worst enemies were not the English soldiers, were not the English captains, but those of her own people and the various members of the clergy. Joan is, Joan's is the story of a deeply religious French girl who was called by God to enter politics, thereby showing in her very life, by means of a type, that the church and the state are not separable, as modern thinkers say. She's showing that in her life. She's a type. Yet, she was condemned to death by a bishop who, instead of being religious, was deeply political. It always takes a Judas to bring a passion upon the church and her saints. What is the lesson here for us? Well, there's many, but I'll mention two. First, let us not be like those moral busybodies whom the devil uses to torment our fellow man for their own good. Be very careful. Don't try to fix other people for their own good, unless you are authorized to do it by God, by your position in the church, or at a fraternal correction in charity. Second of all, the church ultimately will not gain the victory in this world through political ascendancy. She will produce a very great king, yes. She will produce a very great pope, yes, but they will not last. In the end, the church will be tried. She will be condemned, and she will enter into her last passion, just as Joan. And this one, though, will result in the return of the King of kings. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.