The Dove and Rose is free. If you enjoy The Dove and Rose regularly, consider becoming a monthly or yearly paid subscriber to support my work. Or, if you enjoy a post and want to make a one-time contribution, the gesture will be much appreciated! Most importantly, enjoy yourself because I appreciate that you are here.
I hope to inspire you with meditations and contemplative reflections, help you gain a better understanding of your Catholic spirituality, and most importantly create an environment for you to encounter the silent “bright-eyed” Being of the combined hearts of St. Joan of Arc and St. Thérèse of Lisieux.
I am Walter Emerson Adams, a retired corporate executive who writes on Being in the world with St. Joan of Arc and St. Thérèse of Lisieux. In a moment of unreflective certainty on a fall day in 2008, St. Joan of Arc entered my life story through the plays and poetry of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. The effect was immediate, astonishing, and life-altering.
I began asking myself what had happened. St. Thérèse brought me an instantaneous, awe-inspiring, holy love for St. Joan of Arc. I sensed the two had a relationship in Heaven, a union of hearts. Their “combined hearts,” filled me with Catholic hope that has persevered over the years. The impact was so dramatic that I surrendered my life, changing careers and lifestyle, to search for the answer to the question, “What was it?” What was that transformational moment with St. Joan of Arc and St. Thérèse?
My question was not metaphysical. I knew the experience was a moment of grace. Rather, my question was whether my “experience of that experience” with St. Joan was merely a phenomenon of consciousness or a confrontation with Being in the world. In the years immediately following, I wrote and prayed as one who had experienced Joan as a subjective object of consciousness. My frustration with that approach led me to understand the encounter more appropriately as Being in the world with Joan. The encounter was more than personal inspiration; I had walked into Joan’s world. Joan of Arc’s friendship drew me to Being in the world with her and St. Thérèse. It began a fifteen-year journey on “The Trail of the Dogmatic Creed” with the two of them to St. Mary Magdalene on the shores of Provence, both figuratively and literally. What I have here is my expression of the Catholicity of contrition, repentance, and redemption through the Catholic Church that St. Joan and St. Thérèse brought me in the world.
Reflecting for a decade on “the experience of the experience” with St. Joan and St. Thérèse, these saintly sisters led me on a journey to the mystical Kingdom of Catholic and Royal France in the center of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Under their guidance, my life transformed from near death to lively Catholic hope.
I share this journey in the hope that you, too, will receive the grace to experience the silent bright-eyed Being of St. Joan and St. Thérèse in the world, accompanied by a repentant dogmatic confession of the Catholic faith through their French, Royal, and Catholic spirituality.
“But you are a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people: that you may declare his virtues, who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9, Douay-Rheims)
To understand my work, it is important to read Walter Emerson Adams, the opening to this site.
My mission:
To unveil the “bright-eyed” Being of St. Joan of Arc and St. Thérèse of Lisieux in the world by sharing devotional, poetic, philosophical, and mythological expressions grounded in love for the Catholic faith.
These writings are personal reflections on my spiritual journey through the Catholic Church.
I hold an undergraduate degree in Economics from Princeton University and a master’s degree in Public and Private Management from Yale University.
I am married and the father of one child. Though raised a Methodist in the Bible Belt and surrounded with evangelicalism as a youth, I converted to the Catholic Church prior to my marriage in 1985.
Touched deeply by the life of St. Thérèse of Lisieux and imbued with a filial love for Mary, I set out on a life-long spiritual journey to "seek first" Christ's Kingdom with Thérèse as my guide.
Eventually led to confront my innermost being on that lonely, mystical hill of Calvary; I discovered through Mary's maternal guidance and Thérèse's sisterly care that Jesus had called another mighty saint to walk with me and to protect me through that dark and awful night of self-confrontation that leads us in Christ to true freedom. That saint, a spiritual sister to Thérèse, was Joan of Arc.
~ Walter Emerson Adams
Follow the Heroic Hearts podcast co-hosted with Amy Chase. Heroic Hearts is devoted to sharing the stories and spirituality of St. Joan of Arc and St. Thérèse.
