Whether our hopes for this summer have been fulfilled or not, the season is waning. Most kids have returned to school, and the full force of the fall calendar is poised to kick in. All we can do now is hope that whatever rest and recreation we managed to get will be enough to draw on in the months ahead, enough to motivate us, enough to see us to the winter and through it.
Sometimes, though, one summer can change everything that follows it. That’s what happened to one young French girl in 1424. Sometime during that summer six centuries ago, Joan of Arc heard “voices” for the very first time. The exact date was never recorded. But what happened to Joan set her on a path that would change her life and the history of her country. This is how she described it at her infamous trial, on Feb. 22, 1431: “In my thirteenth year, I had a voice from God to help and guide me. The first time I heard this voice, I was very much afraid. The voice came around noon, in the summer, in my father’s garden. … It seemed to me a worthy voice, and I believe it was sent from God.”
I’ve been thinking a lot about Joan of Arc lately, and not just because I’ve spent close to a year writing two books about her. It’s that Joan has so much to teach us about prayer. And in this papally designated year of prayer, I’m hard-pressed to find a better example. Joan of Arc’s life shows us what it looks like when a Christian missionary disciple makes prayer a first response rather than a last resort.
Joan listened to her heavenly voices — those of St. Catherine of Alexandria and St. Margaret of Antioch — for five years before beginning her mission. Over those first five years, Joan learned how to discern the voices that came to her and how to listen. But even more importantly, she learned that the voices she was hearing — and the God who sent them — could be trusted.
To Joan, however, prayer wasn’t just a tool of initial formation; it was an ongoing source of direction and guidance, the wellspring of her purpose and mission. When she left home at the age of 17, Joan was illiterate and untrained — unqualified to command the king’s army and lead men into battle. But she knew better than to trust in her own abilities. Instead, Joan placed all her confidence in God and continually sought his counsel in prayer. And she never stopped listening, not even when she was captured and tried by a panel of corrupt ecclesial judges. Joan prevailed. After her death, France defeated the English. She was vindicated, her greatest enemy posthumously excommunicated. And now she is counted among the most popular saints of all time.
Joan of Arc’s historic mission was inspired and fueled entirely by prayer. Apparently, however, ours are not. In a recent blog post, founder of Catholic Missionary Disciples Marcel LeJeune spoke openly about the role of prayer among today’s Catholic leaders. Prayer, he says, often “takes a back seat to strategy, discussion, plans, etc.” Unlike the first Christians, LeJeune observes, “we may not be facing any extreme kinds of persecution, but we are facing other issues. Our response has been training, classes, best practices, etc. But what about prayer? Why is it done so little? Why have we not prioritized it?” Why indeed!
Six-hundred years is a long time. But if we quiet ourselves down long enough to listen, we can still hear the voices that startled Joan of Arc echo in our own lives and faith communities. Contrary to popular belief, the King of the Universe is not silent. God does not shut up. His call and his invitation are issued in every age. And he is speaking to us. What has changed is our willingness to hear him out.
Our missions and apostolates suffer because we too often pray in a perfunctory way. We do not achieve the victories we long for because we do not take prayer seriously enough to seek God first, to discern and listen to his voice, and then do only what he commands. St. Joan of Arc, pray for us.
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