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 22:07, 7 August 2024
, 7 August→Believing in God like the child Saint
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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, | 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> | <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 the 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. | 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. | ||
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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." | <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>p. 116, [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.62531/page/n133/mode/2up?q=mortal+sin The Trial Of Jeanne D'Arc (1931) : Barrett, W P : Internet Archive]</ref> </blockquote> | ||
Brilliant -- and hardly childlike. | Brilliant -- and hardly childlike. | ||
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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: | 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. | <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.</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: | 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: | ||