Thérèse came up the hill

To join me as I mused

While looking out and beyond

To the land of Christendom

Over the bridge I had spotted below

Royaume France is a Jehannian Thérèsian model of French Catholic spiritual renewal with deep roots in the philosophy of Edith Stein whom Catholics know as St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. This episode will explain how St. Joan of Arc, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, and St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross form a single model representing the "sister ascents" - the Ascent of Mount Carmel and the Ascent to the Meaning of Being.

Through our love for Sts. Joan and Thérèse, we are brought, by the preceding pedagogical methods, into the center of the Immaculate Heart of Mary where we find Jesus Christ, true God and true man, the Second Person of the most Holy Trinity, enthroned in all of His glory as the only Savior of the human race.

Like a magnificent land in the distance, we begin to ever so faintly comprehend the Kingdom's value as we journey. We contemplate it even more deeply through the resonating hues and tones of “the most beautiful color in the heavens,” that is, the combined spiritualities of St. Joan and St. Thérèse, and we are astonished to know that even more than being of great value, this Kingdom holds the very source of life for us.

We now know that our devotion to and relationship with St. Joan and St. Thérèse is no accident, nor is it merely random, subjective emotionalism. There is a reason for this devotion. It has a purpose in the Divine plan for our salvation.

We are now obedient to the guideposts on the path that has, over the centuries before us, so successfully brought a host of saints into the heavenly Kingdom. (Rev 7:9-10) Aided by grace we freely and by choice move along the Trail of the Dogmatic Creed with Sts. Joan and Thérèse under the motherly care of our Queen, the Virgin Mary, (Rev 12:1; Jn 19:26-27) through Faith.

Yet, looking more deeply into the saintly, sisterly influence of St. Joan and St. Thérèse, The Dove and Rose, I see a more sublime methodology at work. Through their care I gain a sense of my true homeland, and I find myself seeking only that end. I want to go home. Having formerly been cast out, I now desire “to return to my own field.”

The reason that I expend so much energy in sharing with the world my love and devotion for St. Joan of Arc and St. Thérèse of Lisieux – The Dove and Rose – is that I desire to share my love for God, for Mary, and for the Kingdom of Heaven with those two in eternity. I desire with all my heart to worship the Holy Trinity with them forever. I will tell you here why this is so.

Can you grasp the meaning of this? I mean, can you grasp the meaning of angels and saints coming from Heaven to visit St. Joan of Arc? In order to even contemplate it, much less grasp it, one must completely open one’s mind.

“I saw you on the road. You began badly but improved. Of old you were a fantastic talker, but there is a man in you, and I will bring it out.”

After which Joan asked him:

“Will you follow where I lead?”[1]

[1] Joan of Arc, Mark Twain, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2007. P. 147.