Blog:Salvation is for the "childlike"? Matthew 11:25: Difference between revisions
Blog:Salvation is for the "childlike"? Matthew 11:25 (view source)
Revision as of 21:51, 7 August 2024
, 7 August→Believing in God like the child Saint
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The Archangel Michael first appeared to Saint Joan of Arc when she was thirteen -- no longer a child, but young, indeed. And at sixteen, when she announced her mission, she was certainly young enough to be dismissed by nearly all as a mere, delusional, and most annoying child. When the Maiden, ''Jeanne la Pucelle'', as she called herself, came to head the French Army she was but seventeen -- legally, in our day, a child. | The Archangel Michael first appeared to Saint Joan of Arc when she was thirteen -- no longer a child, but young, indeed. And at sixteen, when she announced her mission, she was certainly young enough to be dismissed by nearly all as a mere, delusional, and most annoying child. When the Maiden, ''Jeanne la Pucelle'', as she called herself, came to head the French Army she was but seventeen -- legally, in our day, a child. | ||
My edition of the [https://www.amazon.com/Personal-Recollections-Joan-Mark-Twain/dp/B09JRGC2W5/ Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc], begins with a fascinating observation from the great Hungarian revolutionary, Louis Kosuth, <blockquote>''Consider this unique and imposing distinction. Since the writing of human history began, Joan of Arc is the only person, of either sex, who has ever held supreme command of the military forces of a nation at the age of seventeen.''<ref>If asked the question I would have answered Alexander th Great, even knowing that Joan led the Army at age seventeen. I had to look up Alexanders age, and, indeed, he took the throne at age 20 and started his invasion of Asia at age 22. Oh, and Joan had a horse given her by the Duke of Alencon, the King's brother, equal to Alexander's famed Bucephalus.</ref> </blockquote>As did Jesus, Joan confounded "the wise and the learned" -- anyone, that is, who felt in any way threatened by her, which included, of course, "the wise and the learned": the royal retinue, clergy and military leadership. Joan was calm, reasoned, logical and dogged, outwitting the witted, twisting their logic back upon themselves, and dodging their traps. | My edition of the [https://www.amazon.com/Personal-Recollections-Joan-Mark-Twain/dp/B09JRGC2W5/ Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc], begins with a fascinating observation from the great Hungarian revolutionary, Louis Kosuth, | ||
<blockquote>''Consider this unique and imposing distinction. Since the writing of human history began, Joan of Arc is the only person, of either sex, who has ever held supreme command of the military forces of a nation at the age of seventeen.''<ref>If asked the question I would have answered Alexander th Great, even knowing that Joan led the Army at age seventeen. I had to look up Alexanders age, and, indeed, he took the throne at age 20 and started his invasion of Asia at age 22. Oh, and Joan had a horse given her by the Duke of Alencon, the King's brother, equal to Alexander's famed Bucephalus.</ref></blockquote> | |||
As did Jesus, Joan confounded "the wise and the learned" -- anyone, that is, who felt in any way threatened by her, which included, of course, "the wise and the learned": the royal retinue, clergy and military leadership. Joan was calm, reasoned, logical and dogged, outwitting the witted, twisting their logic back upon themselves, and dodging their traps. | |||
Sound familiar? | Sound familiar? | ||
The most famous of Joan's replies came from the theological trap asked at her heresy trial. From an English translation of the transcript, | The most famous of Joan's replies came from the theological trap asked at her heresy trial. From an English translation of the transcript, | ||
<blockquote>On Saturday, February 24th, asked if she knows if she is in God’s grace, she answered: “If I am not, may God put me there, and if I am, may God so keep me."'''''<ref name=":0">p. 116, [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.62531/page/n133/mode/2up?q=mortal+sin The Trial Of Teanner D Arc (1931) : Barrett,w P : Internet Archive]</ref>''''' </blockquote> | |||
Brilliant -- and hardly childlike. | |||
Her inquisitors also pursued a line of inquiry designed to trap her into admitting that she had gravely sinned, which would negate the divinity of her visions. Her answer is both clever and logically sound:<blockquote>Asked whether she need confess, since she believed by the revelation of her voices that she will be saved, she answers that she does not know of having committed mortal sin, but if she were in mortal sin, she thinks St. Catherine and St. Margaret would at once abandon her.<ref name=":0" /></blockquote>Other retorts of equal mental acumen are reported by Mark Twain in his wonderful, if flawed, biography.<ref>Twain exposes himself as an anti-Catholic protestant by ignoring Joan's most famous retort, that regarding Grace. Oh well, just a little Lutheran misunderstanding there regarding [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/romans/5?11?1 Romans 5:1]:. If you must, here's a fairly concise review of the problem with "solo fide": [https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/is-justification-ongoing Is Justification Ongoing? | Catholic Answers Magazine]</ref> One is from an exchange with the French Minister of State, La Tremouille, who argued against Joan's insistence that the initial victory at Orleans be followed up lest the English regroup. La Tremouille, angry that she was essentially ordering him around in front of the Court, accused her of discussing matters of state in public, a grave offense: | Her inquisitors also pursued a line of inquiry designed to trap her into admitting that she had gravely sinned, which would negate the divinity of her visions. Her answer is both clever and logically sound: | ||
<blockquote>Asked whether she need confess, since she believed by the revelation of her voices that she will be saved, she answers that she does not know of having committed mortal sin, but if she were in mortal sin, she thinks St. Catherine and St. Margaret would at once abandon her.<ref name=":0" /></blockquote> | |||
Other retorts of equal mental acumen are reported by Mark Twain in his wonderful, if flawed, biography.<ref>Twain exposes himself as an anti-Catholic protestant by ignoring Joan's most famous retort, that regarding Grace. Oh well, just a little Lutheran misunderstanding there regarding [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/romans/5?11?1 Romans 5:1]:. If you must, here's a fairly concise review of the problem with "solo fide": [https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/is-justification-ongoing Is Justification Ongoing? | Catholic Answers Magazine]</ref> One is from an exchange with the French Minister of State, La Tremouille, who argued against Joan's insistence that the initial victory at Orleans be followed up lest the English regroup. La Tremouille, angry that she was essentially ordering him around in front of the Court, accused her of discussing matters of state in public, a grave offense: | |||
<blockquote>Joan said, placidly — "I have to beg your pardon. My trespass came of ignorance. I did not know that matters connected with your department of the government were matters of state." | |||
The minister lifted his brows in amused surprise, and said, with a touch of sarcasm — "I am the King's chief minister, and yet you had the impression that matters connected with my department are not matters of state ? Pray how is that?" | The minister lifted his brows in amused surprise, and said, with a touch of sarcasm — "I am the King's chief minister, and yet you had the impression that matters connected with my department are not matters of state ? Pray how is that?" | ||
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"No state!" | "No state!" | ||
"No, sir, there is no state, and no use for a minister. France is shrunk to a couple of acres of ground; a sheriff's constable could take care of it; its affairs are not matters of state. The term is too large."<ref>From the first edition, 1895, p. 892; [https://archive.org/details/personalrecollec00twai/page/892/mode/2up Personal recollections of Joan of Arc : Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 : Internet Archive] Note: the page numbers are from the serial publication in Harper's magazine, so do not correspond to later book editions.</ref> </blockquote>Another comes earlier, during the initial investigation ordered by the Dauphin (Joan refused to call him King of France until he had been crowned at Rheims, which completed her mission). A "sly Dominican," Twain writes, tested the logic that she needed an army to do God's will: | "No, sir, there is no state, and no use for a minister. France is shrunk to a couple of acres of ground; a sheriff's constable could take care of it; its affairs are not matters of state. The term is too large."<ref>From the first edition, 1895, p. 892; [https://archive.org/details/personalrecollec00twai/page/892/mode/2up Personal recollections of Joan of Arc : Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 : Internet Archive] Note: the page numbers are from the serial publication in Harper's magazine, so do not correspond to later book editions.</ref></blockquote> | ||
Another comes earlier, during the initial investigation ordered by the Dauphin (Joan refused to call him King of France until he had been crowned at Rheims, which completed her mission). A "sly Dominican," Twain writes, tested the logic that she needed an army to do God's will: | |||
<blockquote>Then answer me this. If He has willed to deliver France, and is able to do whatsoever He wills, where is the need for men-at-arms?" .... But Joan was not disturbed. There was no note of disquiet in her voice when she answered: "He helps who help themselves. The sons of France will fight the battles, but He will give the victory!"<ref>p. 458, [https://archive.org/details/personalrecollec00twai/page/458/mode/2up?view=theater Personal recollections of Joan of Arc : Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 : Internet Archive] </ref></blockquote> | |||
The Bishop, in Twain's account, muttered in response, | |||
<blockquote>"By God, the child has said true. He willed that Goliath should be slain, and He sent a child like this to do it!"</blockquote> | |||
The Bishop was amazed not at her childlike argument, but that the argument came from a child.<ref>And, as with David, a child would save the nation (!). | |||
If you are curious as to why God would side with the French in that war (btw, the "English" were French -- Normans who invaded Britain a few hundred years before), my best calculus is that God knew the Reformation would come and needed France as a Catholic bastion. Had the English won, Henry VIII may well have expelled Catholicism from France as well as England as happened merely one hundred years later.</ref> | If you are curious as to why God would side with the French in that war (btw, the "English" were French -- Normans who invaded Britain a few hundred years before), my best calculus is that God knew the Reformation would come and needed France as a Catholic bastion. Had the English won, Henry VIII may well have expelled Catholicism from France as well as England as happened merely one hundred years later.</ref> | ||
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Saint Joan of Arc boggles the mind, pushes us past reason, that is. But unlike the stories of some other Saints, and beyond the historical evidence, we can actually see her doing all that she did. On the surface, Saint Joan makes it easy for us to combine reason and faith. But as real and clear as the "what" of the story is, rationally the "how" is simply implausible. Reason must yield. | Saint Joan of Arc boggles the mind, pushes us past reason, that is. But unlike the stories of some other Saints, and beyond the historical evidence, we can actually see her doing all that she did. On the surface, Saint Joan makes it easy for us to combine reason and faith. But as real and clear as the "what" of the story is, rationally the "how" is simply implausible. Reason must yield. | ||
So let us just be amazed while learning what we can from the Maid of Orleans''.'' | So let us just be amazed while learning what we can from the Maid of Orleans''.'' | ||
== What childlike is and is not == | == What childlike is and is not == | ||