From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
    -- 2 Corinthians 4:18 –    
      
   So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since   
   what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.   
   ===========================   
   "You cannot be satisfied with any temporal good, because you were not   
   created to enjoy these alone. If you desire inordinately these things   
   that are present, you shall lose those which are heavenly and   
   eternal."   
   --Thomas å Kempis   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   May 30th - St. Joan of Arc   
      
   On May 30, 1431, the eve of the feast of Corpus Christi, Joan was led   
   to the old market square of Rouen. She was tied to a stake surrounded   
   by a pile of firewood ready to be lighted. From her neck a placard was   
   hung with the words: “Heretic, apostate, and idolater.” A great crowd   
   was present in the square. Six hundred English soldiers guarded her.   
      
   When she arrived at the site, she asked for a cross. An English   
   soldier broke the stick of a lance, tied the two pieces together in   
   the shape of a cross and gave to her. After receiving the precious   
   symbol she was tied to the stake over the firewood. Then, she called   
   out loudly to St. Michael. The executioner lighted the firewood that   
   was soaked with oil, and the fire grew furiously from bottom to top.   
   As the flames enveloped her, Joan shouted out strongly, reaffirming   
   her fidelity to her mission: ‘I was not mistaken, the voices came from   
   Heaven!’   
      
   In a few minutes everything was finished. The ashes were swept into   
   the waters of the Seine River. Even the heart of the Maid, which   
   remained intact since it had not burned in the flames, was cast into   
   the river.   
      
      
   Comments of the late Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira:   
      
   We can comment on several points in this very beautiful martyrdom.   
      
   First, the injustice of the sentence on the placard hung around her   
   neck causes indignation. She was a saint – a virgin who had   
   accomplished the mission God gave her to save the French people. And   
   now she was going to be burned at the stake on the orders of French   
   Archbishop Cauchon, the president of the tribunal, for an infamous   
   reason. To understand the significance of this, I ask that you, you   
   who have offered your lives to fight against Progressivism, imagine   
   that you were condemned with a placard around your neck with the word   
   “progressivist” written on it. It would be an analogous unjust injury,   
   a similar fabrication, a comparable lie.   
      
   Second, there are her words about the voices from Heaven. She used to   
   say that those voices came to her from Heaven; and that it was by   
   following the orders of those voices and through the strength   
   communicated to her by them that she had accomplished the marvelous   
   work that she did--the partial liberation of France and the   
   restoration of the legitimate King.   
   On the contrary, the tribunal that judged her – which was a mixed   
   tribunal, ecclesiastical and civil--affirmed that all those wonderful   
   victories she achieved over the English troops were accomplished   
   through witchcraft. They said that the English army had been defeated   
   because she had made a pact with the devil. Therefore, according to   
   them, the voices came from Hell.   
      
   The problem, then, was not to determine whether the voices were true   
   or not. No one questioned the fact, because they still were not yet   
   under the deleterious influence of the systematic doubt of   
   Protestantism. People had faith and knew that this kind of   
   communication was not rare. The problem was that the tribunal had to   
   say that the voices were coming from Hell because they did not favor   
   the Kingdom of England. It was for this reason Joan was condemned as a   
   heretic, a witch, etc.   
      
   Right before she expired, when she was preparing herself to stand   
   before the tribunal of God, she gave another manifestation of   
   sanctity. What did she do? She asked for a cross—a cross because an   
   oath made in the presence of the cross is much graver. And she--a   
   warrior until the end--she died fighting. She did not die meekly   
   permitting her enemies to kill her, but she died calling out a   
   challenge, a protest, and an encouragement to the French resistance   
   against English domination. Her shout said this:   
      
       “French people, continue to fight, because the voices in whose   
   name I led you to victory truly spoke orders that came from Heaven.   
   Heaven will give you, therefore, the complete victory.”   
      
   For this cry she chose the perfect, supreme, and most tragic moment   
   when she was already being consumed by the fire. The members of the   
   tribunal were present assisting at the scene, the English soldiers   
   were standing guard, the Catholic people watching. She was tied to the   
   stake, the flames were growing rapidly since the wood was soaked with   
   oil. The fire was rising from bottom to top, so it had not yet reached   
   the vital parts of her body.   
      
   At this crucial moment, no wail of pain, no cry for mercy came from   
   her lips. She called out loudly to St. Michael, probably to ask   
   strength from the Archangel--who was her great protector--to do what   
   she would do. After that, like Our Lord who cried out in a loud voice   
   before He expired, she also cried out in loud voice, a voice that   
   could be heard throughout the square. It was her protest:   
      
       “Know this, all of you--you friends and enemies, you men of my   
   time and you men of the future until the end of the world--know that   
   the voices I heard came from Heaven. With this last proclamation, my   
   mission is accomplished.”   
      
   This testimony given at the hour of her death is a supreme act of   
   heroism--more worthy than her triumphal entrance into Reims beside   
   the King who would be crowned there, more glorious than her first   
   triumphal entrance into Orleans, and more splendid than all her epic   
   deeds. That shout at the moment her soul was leaving this earth to be   
   judged by God is truly marvelous!   
      
   Third, that the flames consumed the body but spared her heart is also   
   something very beautiful. To have heart is not to be sentimental. To   
   have heart is to have strength of soul, great value, love for elevated   
   things, love for the supernatural mission God gave us. And if ever   
   someone had heart, this one was St. Joan of Arc. Thus the beautiful   
   fact: the body was consumed by the fire, but not the heart. It was a   
   miracle of Heaven to confirm what she had just affirmed minutes   
   before, that the voices came from Heaven. She was already in Heaven   
   but her heart was still on earth confirming the truth she had spoken.   
   The English commanders understood quite well the danger in keeping   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)