The Story of Joan of Arc

The movie "The Messenger: the story of Joan of Arc" vehicles not just the struggle of one person, but also of the entire nation of France vis-à-vis in finding the will of God for them. Situated in the time of the Medieval Ages, when the Church and State were practically one, one definitely is at a loss in recognizing if an event divinely inspired, or merely conjured by the power-hungry machination of man. 

Joan, a young village lass, who was tasked by God to bring a message to the soon-to-be king of France, did not perform merely as a seer by what lies ahead nor a prophet by mediating her people to God. The French people, too much distressed because of famine and insecurity brought by the war, must have expected her to perform miracles that will improve their living condition.  And she did, through God's mighty intervention.

Throughout the movie, the concept that she is a 'messenger' figured prominently. And she was able to prove that she is an authentic one through the signs she did not perform, but the signs done on her by the Almighty. She reached the palace safely despite having to go through dangerous places threatened by the presence of the English forces. She was able to recognize the soon-to-be crowned king of France in the midst of people who wanted to dupe her.  She won the battle of Orleans single-handedly to the surprise of her people, majority of whom was expecting her bitter defeat.  

A movie, it is said, is a good one, if it has a good conflict that will make the protagonist live in order to battle it out, and find a logical solution to put an end to it. It is in this perspective that I consider this movie a good one as it opened the eyes of its viewers to the painful realities of the Church that goes out of its bounds to announce the coming of the Kingdom of God, but while waiting for its coming, has institutionalized a kingdom that runs contradictory to the values the Kingdom of God stands for.

Given this situation, searching for God's will has become a more complicated affair. Especially because those who had been tasked to discern and obey his will were all entangled with the affairs of man.

In the midst of this conflict is Joan, a young village girl who was given signs. 

But she, too, had a conflict to resolve, not just in the beginning of the movie, but throughout it. As she battled it out with her own conscience (shown in the latter part of the film). It was resolved when she finally confronted with it, and able to accept her shadows. 

She died violently in the smoldering stake prepared for her by the enemy, peacefully. 

On Savio and Namuncura

Namuncura and Savio have got some things in common.

One is that the church recognized their sanctity. The latter was canonized, while the former was beatified.

Aside from this, they were both bosconians.  

And your guess is as good as mine: They would have been splendid Salesians if God permitted them to live longer. But as we know it, they lived only a short life. Savio met the Creator when he was just barely 15 years old. Namuncura, however, smiled goodbye when he was about my age: 19 years old.

When he entered the Salesian school, it was not a walk in the park. He found it difficult to fall in line and to be obedient to the sound of the bell.

Picking up Savio as his model, Namuncura's companions could no longer distinguish the former from the latter. He became a wonderful copy of him.

When a companion slighted him with the question "how does a human flesh taste like" inferring that he was a cannibal since he was an Indian, he responded with just a big tear.

The life of Zefferino is a parable of scarcely 19 years, but it was a life filled with lessons.

Fr. Chavez said that "A saint is never like a meteorite that unexpectedly flashes across the sky of humanity, but is rather the fruit of a long and silent gestation in a family.”

Saints inspire others to be saints. Let us learn from their examples.

Bridge lives!

Some personnel from the city government came over in Kapayaapaan National High School last Thursday to give a talk on career orientation to the fourth years. It meant calling our catechism classes. But since the we’re already in the school when we learnt about it, we did not have any choice but to stay. The teachers of our students were not around. And only the helpless city personnel were there with their portable sound system to make the obviously-bored students to pay attention.

One boy, a student of Br. Eric, sat beside me, isolating himself from the rest of his classmates.

I reckon meeting him before since he approached me once a couple of months ago asking from me some advice about his desire to try the seminary life. I gathered from him in our last encounter that he was troubled, almost anxious, in pursuing the priesthood (he might enter the diocesan seminary) and setting aside his dream to become a teacher. Since I was on my way to my class (we were walking along the corridor), we did not have much time to talk. But I remember telling him to get in touch with his parish priest.

Last Thursday was a chance for him to expound things and clarify the real score. I could see in his eyes confusion, and even fears. Believe me, I’m not just imagining things. I should know. His anxious expression reminded me of my own worries when I was myself a confused teenager discerning whether to try the seminary life or just pursue the life of a layperson just like the rest of my classmates.

I tried to ease him by telling him that it was natural for him to have fears because life is filled with uncertainty. But I challenged him that it is expected for us to face our fears squarely. When we were talking, I was conscious that a portion of my mind was rushing to seek for Divine help. I was just clueless what to tell him so that he’d be brave enough to be not afraid to take the risk.

Of course, dispensing advice is not a difficult thing to do. But if the counsel touches on one’s spiritual welfare, that is an entirely different matter. Religious vocation is not just about one entering the seminary or the convent, but more than that, it impresses on the core of bridging a connection between a person to his/her God, making the person conscious, cognizant, of God’s presence in his/her life and ultimately, be able to act appropriately in order to follow where God calls him/her to be.

My being a religious, a Salesian of Don Bosco in particular, commands me to not just live for my own sake. But also, and I feel, more importantly, be able to share this life to those who are looking for meaning in their lives.

On this third day of our novena in honor of St. John Bosco, I am particularly emboldened by the example of Don Bosco’s very patron, the delightfully gentle saint the Church fondly remembers today: St. Francis of Sales. He is not only the patron saint of writers and journalists, but received also the title of Everyman’s Spiritual Director because of his capacity in leading ordinary individuals to God’s embrace.

Laura Vicuña

Today’s the feast day of Blessed Laura Vicuña, a 13-year-old girl who offered her life for the conversion of her mother. To ensure the salvation of her mother, she also added penances and, with the permission of her confessor, took the private vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

Worn out by a terrible sickness, she revealed to her mother “Mummy, I am dying! Some time ago I asked Jesus to bring you back to God and I offered my life for you… Mummy, before I die, can I have the joy of seeing you turn back to him?”

Her request was granted and she died peacefully on the evening of 22nd January 1904.

In the face of a dreadful society that’s filled with wickedness, the young people should look up to her as an example of someone who was not indifferent to sin. Upon learning that her mother’s soul was at risk because of her shameful relationship with a man, she offered herself to the Lord to bring about her conversion.

Sts Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops, Doctors

Genuine holiness is contagious.

With the beatification last year of the parents of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, now Blesseds Louis Martin and Marie Zelie Guerin, this statement must be beyond reproach.

But if family members could inspire each other to be holy, it is also possible for friends to affect each other to lead a remarkable Christian life. Today, on the first day after the Christmas octave, the Church celebrates the memorial of St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory Nazianzen, bishops and doctors.

Their lives and the special breed of friendship that bonded them together challenge each of us to not just be an ordinary friend, but more so, a well-equipped guide in drawing others closer to God.

Here is an excerpt from a sermon by Saint Gregory Nazianzus, which is used in the Roman Office of Readings for January 2.

A Sermon by St Gregory Nazianzen

Two bodies, but a single spirit

Basil and I were both in Athens. We had come, like streams of a river, from the same source in our native land, had separated from each other in pursuit of learning, and were now united again as if by plan, for God so arranged it.

I was not alone at that time in my regard for my friend, the great Basil. I knew his irreproachable conduct, and the maturity and wisdom of his conversation. I sought to persuade others, to whom he was less well known, to have the same regard for him. Many fell immediately under his spell, for they had already heard of him by reputation and hearsay.

What was the outcome? Almost alone of those who had come to Athens to study he was exempted from the customary ceremonies of initiation for he was held in higher honor than his status as a first-year student seemed to warrant.

Such was the prelude to our friendship, the kindling of that flame that was to bind us together. In this way we began to feel affection for each other. When, in the course of time, we acknowledged our friendship and recognized that our ambition was a life of true wisdom, we became everything to each other: we shared the same lodging, the same table, the same desires the same goal. Our love for each other grew daily warmer and deeper.

The same hope inspired us: the pursuit of learning. This is an ambition especially subject to envy. Yet between us there was no envy. On the contrary, we made capital out of our rivalry. Our rivalry consisted, not in seeking the first place for oneself but in yielding it to the other, for we each looked on the other’s success as his own.

We seemed to be two bodies with a single spirit. Though we cannot believe those who claim that everything is contained in everything, yet you must believe that in our case each of us was in the other and with the other.

Our single object and ambition was virtue, and a life of hope in the blessings that are to come; we wanted to withdraw from this world before we departed from it. With this end in view we ordered our lives and all our actions. We followed the guidance of God’s law and spurred each other on to virtue. If it is not too boastful to say, we found in each other a standard and rule for discerning right from wrong.

Different men have different names, which they owe to their parents or to themselves, that is, to their own pursuits and achievements. But our great pursuit, the great name we wanted, was to be Christians, to be called Christians.