Introduction to the Prose
The inception of Mystic France and The House of New Bethany
The four poetic prose below are the inception of Mystical France and The House of New Bethany. On my way home from Eucharistic adoration one day in October 2008, the following phrase came to my mind.
One day I was walking Through a forest
Arriving home, I sat at my desk and wrote the first prose, The Dance of Freedom, using the phrase above as my opening. I then wrote one additional prose each day for the next three days. A few weeks later, through the inspiration of St. Joan of Arc, I began writing my first book, Journey to Christendom - The Freedom Dance, not aware until I was well into it that these writings were the storyline of the book. Joan had already given me the outline of a newly developing life project and through these prose had circumscribed my heart and mind with her own. I had recently come to know St. Joan through the poetry and plays of St. Thérèse to whom I had been deeply devoted since my conversion in 1984. My saintly sisters in Christ were leading me to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
That Fall of 2008, I began a fifteen-year journey with St. Joan of Arc and St. Thérèse of Lisieux to the Mystical Kingdom of Catholic and Royal France. The prose contained the spiritual theme of everything I would later develop over the years. The seeds of every ensuing expression came from them.
Read them joyfully, prayerfully, and with a sense of discovery. They remain in the original free form in which I wrote them. I pray that you, too, will seek the friendship and sisterly care of St. Joan and St. Thérèse!
Prose 1 - The Dance of Freedom