The Solemnity
of All Saint’s Day is this Sunday. Sometimes
with all the hoopla of Halloween (October 31) and Dia de Los Muertos (November 2), Catholics forget that every year our
church dedicates a day (November 1) to celebrating the lives of all the men and
women who have attained heaven.
Generally the day is a Holy Day of Obligation, meaning that we must
attend Mass to participate in this great festivity. This year it falls on a Sunday, so Father is
encouraging all the kids in our community to dress as saints, these children in
costume will walk in procession during the beginning of our liturgical celebration.
Also, tonight at my parish we hold our annual Fall Fest, in which the children
in our community also come in costume (representing a saint of their devotion)
and participate in games, a pizza dinner, yummy treats, crafts and a spooky
critters presentation. My nephew and I
love going together every year.
Anyway, as
a way to commemorate all these festivities I usually choose a saint at the
beginning of October and spend the entire month getting to know my saint. This year I went with Saint Joan of Arc, only
because I fell upon a novel that Mark Twain wrote about her (I usually like
more feminine costumes, smile). The
novel happens to be Twain’s favorite amongst his works, he spent two years
gathering information before he wrote it.
The book presents Saint Joan as a beautiful, innocent girl of seventeen
who loves God and has such an intimate relationship with her Creator that she’s
able to hear God’s voice. There are many
times when she gets lost in ecstasy in God’s presence. The story goes, that one day while she’s out
in the forest the Archangel Michael appears and shares with her God’s desire
for her to defend France against the invading armies. After this encounter she
leaves her small countryside village and heads out to comply with her God given
mission. After enduring a long, tiresome
inquisition into her mental faculties the king and his court finally succeed and
give her the army she has requested. Her
pure spirit is extremely contagious and she brings to faith many of the
soldiers under her command. Though she
is illiterate and has never been taught in military strategy she leads her
country to victory. And this is where I am in the novel. I know that she gets
captured and sentenced to trial for heresy and cross-dressing and is
eventually burned at the stake.
What I learned from Saint Joan…
Courage- She was a brave girl who said yes to God’s
calling even though she was a simple, uneducated peasant girl. She led an army, restored the confidence of
her country and encouraged her soldiers to be men of God. There’s this great story in which she meets “La
Hire” a hardened and experience soldier who was notorious as the worst blasphemer
in the army and she is able to reach his heart.
He becomes one of Joan’s greatest supporters. With his help, Saint Joan brings morality and
faith into the army camp banishing blasphemy, gambling, and prostitution
insisting on regular participation of religious practices. All these changes required a lot of courage
on her part.
Obedience- Though she was very aware of her weaknesses in
character, in position and just in her sex she honored God’s will for her
life. She left her family and all she
knew in compliance with God’s will. Her
yes allowed God to work through her for the betterment of others. And in obedience she gave up her life for her
faith and for her mission.
Love- Though she was this great military leader she
still was a girl with a soft heart who cared deeply about each person under her
command. She wanted everyone to
experience the goodness of God.
Lately, I have
been so busy with things that were not part of my plans, just life unexpected
happening. Things that brought me really
down and made me afraid and unsure of so many things. I lost my focus for a bit and hurt people through
my own insecurities. I am a doer and
sometimes it’s really challenging for me to wait and be patient - to trust in
the will of God and His plans for my life in peaceful inactivity. I especially get fearful of inactivity when
death reminds me of time and its merciless passing. I am finally understanding that I need to
work on not freaking out every time I attend a funeral. That I should reflect on my life, but do it
in a constructive manner. Yes, death is
always lurking by and yes we have no idea when our time is up; but I cannot
allow these observations to send me in a fearful riot. I am in God’s plan and in His time things
will happen – I just need to learn to chill out (smile). Yesterday, as I worked on my costume and
reflected on Saint Joan I realized that God is also a doer and sometimes I need
to let Him do and just relax - to trust in Him like Saint Joan, to have courage
and faith in His plans.
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