From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Head and Members Pray   
      
      "God could give no greater gift to us than to make his Word,   
   through Whom he created all things, our Head and to join us to him as   
   his members   
      Thus, when we speak to God in prayer we do not separate the Son   
   from him, and when the body of the Son prays it does not separate its   
   Head from itself."   
   --St. Augustine--Commentary on Psalm 85, 1   
      
   Prayer: May he perfect his gifts in us, since he did not hesitate to   
   take our faults on himself. And may he make us children of God, since   
   he chose to become the child of human beings for us.   
   --St. Augustine--Sermon 184, 3   
      
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   30 May – St Joan of Arc   
      
   Born 6 January 1412 at Greux-Domremy, Lorraine, France--burned alive   
   on 30 May 1431 at Rouen, France) – Beatified 11 April 1905 by Pope   
   Saint Pius X,  Canonised on 16 May 1920 by Pope Benedict XV.   
      
   Patron of France;  martyrs; captives; military personnel;  people   
   ridiculed for their piety; prisoners;  soldiers; opposition of Church   
   authorities; WACs (Women’s Army Corps);WAVES (Women Appointed for   
   Voluntary Emergency Service).  Attributes – bareheaded girl in armour   
   with sword, lance or banner.   
      
   The church officially remembers Joan of Arc not as a martyr but as a   
   virgin—the Maid of Orleans. Of course, Joan was a martyr, but not in   
   the technical sense. Yes, she died because she did what she thought   
   God wanted her to do. But she was killed for her politics, not for her   
   faith. Pagans did not execute her for refusing to worship their gods.   
   Infidels did not slay her for defying them. Political enemies burned   
   her at the stake for defeating them at war.   
      
   Paradoxically, Christian people, good and bad alike, cheered at her   
   demise. Other Christians wept. This incongruity may trouble us but   
   Joan would have expected it.  The war she fought embroiled French   
   Christians against English Christians. We too have waged wars like   
   that, pitting Christian against Christian. Just as we may have felt   
   that God was on our side, Joan believed that God was with the French.   
   When the judges who condemned her asked if the heavenly voices she   
   followed to war spoke in English, she replied tartly, “Why should they   
   speak English when they were not on the English side?”   
      
   Joan of Arc was born into the violent times of the 15th century.   
   During her childhood, King Henry V of England invaded France and   
   seized Normandy. He laid claim to the crown of the French king,   
   Charles VI, who was mentally ill. Paralysed by civil war between the   
   duke of Burgundy and the duke of Orleans, the French could not put up   
   much of a defense.  Things worsened when agents of the duke of Orleans   
   murdered the duke of Burgundy.  The Burgundians reacted by becoming   
   England’s allies. Eventually, Burgundian mercenaries brought the war   
   home to Joan’s family. The raiders sacked the little village of   
   Domrémy-la-Pucelle, forcing them to flee. Thus, the indiscriminate   
   brutality of war disrupted Joan of Arc’s pleasant childhood to   
   acquaint her with fear.   
      
   Born of a fairly well-to-do peasant couple in Domremy-Greux southeast   
   of Paris, Joan was only 12 when she experienced a vision and heard   
   voices that she later identified as Saints Michael the Archangel,   
   Catherine of Alexandria, and Margaret of Antioch.   
      
   By May 1428, Joan’s voices had become relentless and specific. They   
   directed her to go at once to a town nearby and to offer her services   
   to Robert de Baudricourt, the commander of the royal forces.   
   Reluctantly, she obeyed. De Baudricourt, however, greeted her with   
   laughter, telling her that her father should give her a good spanking.   
      
   At that time, conditions were deteriorating for the French. The   
   English had put Orleans under siege, and the stronghold was in grave   
   danger. Joan’s voices became more insistent. “But I am merely a girl!   
   I cannot ride a horse or wield a weapon!” she protested.   
   “It is God who commands it!” came the reply.   
      
   Unable to resist any longer, Joan secretly made her way back to de   
   Baudricourt. When she arrived she told the commander a fact she could   
   have known only by revelation. She said the French army—on that very   
   day—had suffered a defeat near Orleans. Joan urged him to send her to   
   Orleans so that she might fulfill her mission. When official reports   
   confirmed Joan’s word, de Baudricourt finally took her seriously and   
   sent her to Charles VII.   
      
   She was outfitted with white armour and provided a special standard   
   bearing the names Jesus and Mary. The banner depicted two kneeling   
   angels offering a fleur-de-lis to God. On April 29, 1429, Joan led her   
   army into Orleans. Miraculously, she rallied the town.  By May 8, the   
   French had captured the English forts and had lifted the siege. An   
   arrow had penetrated the armour over Joan’s breast but the injury was   
   not serious enough to keep her out of the battle. Everything,   
   including the wound, occurred exactly as Joan had prophesied before   
   the campaign.  A peasant maiden had defeated the army of a mighty   
   kingdom, a humiliation that demanded revenge.   
      
   The way to Reims was now open.  Joan urged the immediate coronation of   
   the king but the French leaders dragged their feet.  Finally, however,   
   at Reims on July 17, 1429, Charles VII was anointed king of France.   
   The Maid of Orleans stood triumphantly at his side. Joan had   
   accomplished her mission.   
      
   During the battles at Orleans, the voices had told Joan she had only a   
   little time left. Her shameful end lurked ominously in the shadows.   
   Later, she sustained a serious arrow wound in the thigh during an   
   unsuccessful attack on Paris. In May 1430, after spending the winter   
   in court, she led a force to relieve Compiègne, which the Burgundians   
   had under siege. Her effort failed, and the Burgundians captured her.   
      
   Through the summer and fall, the duke of Burgundy held Joan captive.   
   The French, apparently ungrateful, made no effort to rescue her or   
   obtain her release. On November 21, 1430, the Burgundians sold Joan to   
   the English for a large sum.  The English were quite eager to punish   
   the maiden who had bested them. They could not execute Joan for   
   winning but they could impose capital punishment for sorcery or   
   heresy. For several months she was chained in a cell in the castle at   
   Rouen, where five coarse guards constantly taunted her. In February   
   1431, Joan appeared before a tribunal headed by Peter Cauchon, the   
   avaricious and wicked bishop of Beauvais.   
      
   Joan had no chance for a fair trial. She stood alone before devious   
      
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