The Dove and Rose, the Kingdom Blessed of St. Joan and St. Thérèse
The Kingdom Blessed of St. Joan and St. Thérèse
Over the years, The Dove and Rose, the Kingdom blessed of St. Joan and St. Thérèse, the Kingdom of the Blessed Virgin Mary's Catholic and Royal France, has blossomed in my heart and soul. At times I was not sure what to do with it. The key, of course, was to rely always on the guidance of Holy Mother Church, her doctrines, dogmas, and creeds as the guideposts on my journey. Importantly, I have had the remarkable blessing of having the friendship, patronage, and celestial sisterly care of St. Joan of Arc and St. Thérèse of Lisieux, who are my guides on the Trail of the Dogmatic Creed leading to this Kingdom.
In reading and meditating on The Dove and Rose, one might be tempted to dismiss it as mere romanticism, a looking back with rose-colored glasses on an imaginary time when Catholic Kingdoms brought glory to God and Our Lady in perfect harmony and peace. Or one might be tempted to dismiss it as a dangerous Christian utopianism, a looking forward to a divinely appointed earthly kingdom, such as many of the Jewish followers of Jesus looked forward to with an earthly restoration of their kingdom.
Hopefully, in contemplating The Dove and Rose, one will quickly ascertain that this Kingdom is neither of the two but rather a true Form in the Immaculate Heart of Mary and therefore in the Kingdom of God. The Dove and Rose must be contemplated through the philosophical lens neither of romanticism (looking naively backward) nor of utopianism (looking idealistically forward to an earthly kingdom) but of Platonic ultra-realism (as understood by St. Augustine and St. Anselm along with essentially all the Church Fathers)[1] which holds the divinely conformed eternal Form in the mind of God in Heaven as the model toward which we journey in the bosom of the Church. We will never know perfection here, which statement is a denial of both romanticism and utopianism, but only in Heaven where this true Form exists, which statement is a confirmation of the Catholic ultra-real foundations of our faith.
The Dove and Rose is that toward which we are drawn as one of the families of divinely appointed nations in the world to come, a nation and family hidden from the world under the existing, fabricated man-made nations of the City of Man but revealed by the light of Christ to those who believe in Him. We are one of many tabernacles of Heavenly familial relations in the eternal Feast of Tabernacles in the world to come.[2]
Man’s pursuit of happiness here below consists in discovering the order which his Creator laid down for him and in conforming himself to it as closely as he can. Pius XII did not hesitate to say that on the conformation given to society hung both the welfare and the ruin of souls.[3]
The Dove and Rose is precisely that order, that Divine society, an example of the true nation and family predestined for us by God, by which we must be conformed if we are to save our souls. Our true allegiance is to our Divine nation, hidden from the world but revealed to those who believe in Jesus Christ and know His Catholic Church to be the only means of salvation. What we see here is imperfect (I Corinthians13:12); however, we are drawn through the sinful realities of this world to the Cross of our redemption, through which, and only through which, we may journey forward in faith, hope, and love. We are led on our way through the combined hearts and spirituality of St. Joan and St. Thérèse.
The Dove and Rose is an expression of Platonic Ultra-Realism elevated by divine grace through the Immaculate Heart of Mary to the Holy Realism of St. John of the Cross, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, and St. Joan of Arc. It is not a concept originating in the human intellect. The Dove and Rose is a shadow of heavenly reality that exists as Truth and a Form in the mind of God (I Cor. 13:12). The Dove and Rose is the Blessed Virgin Mary's Kingdom of Catholic France imbued in the beautiful color of the combined spirituality of St. Joan of Arc and St. Thérèse of Lisieux. It is representative of a heavenly family, a tabernacle of familial relations in the Kingdom of God.
The eternal Feast of Tabernacles will be a Great Homecoming when it is celebrated in heaven, but not everyone will make the reunion. Unless family members are united in Christ, only their bodies are related. Earthly families being at best very imperfect figures of the heavenly, it is next to impossible to identify the real relatives here below.[4]
Thus, our first concern is that of finding people of goodwill. Our effort is not aimed primarily at trying to convince others through deductive reasoning; rather, it is simply to present this Heavenly Tabernacle to those who are predestined to receive it through the goodness of their will and who, now believing, will seek to understand it in their rational intellect. We are presenting The Dove and Rose to those who "believe so that they might understand" (St. Anselm, op.cit.) as opposed to those who must understand before they believe.
If holy desire impels you to love this heavenly home, you are likely part of this eternal Heavenly family making up one of the "many mansions in the Father's house" (Jn 14:23).
The manifestation of The Dove and Rose in our hearts is divided into three components, those to which we refer as the "spiritual programs":
Seek the Kingdom through True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and Eucharistic adoration in order to open our hearts to the reception of sanctifying grace.
Love the Kingdom through the Dove and Rose devotion to the combined hearts of St. Joan of Arc and St. Thérèse of Lisieux in order to grow in sanctifying grace and allow them to lead us to the mystical Kingdom of Catholic France.
Defend the Kingdom through the Royal Hearts devotion in order to persevere in sanctifying grace through the counterrevolutionary spirituality of the Kingdom of Catholic France.
We seek this Kingdom "on earth as it is in Heaven." Our desire for this Kingdom here below as it is above becomes our unyielding driving force, and this itself comes with consequences.
Devotion to the combined hearts of Sts. Joan of Arc and Thérèse of Lisieux becomes our life-giving guide out of the Dark Forest and toward the Kingdom of the Virgin Mary's Catholic France on the Trail of the Dogmatic Creed. This becomes the manifestation of our specific form of True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary as prescribed by St. Louis de Montfort.
Royal Hearts becomes the passionate expression of our defense of the Kingdom. Royal Hearts is uncompromising. Through our Marian, Jehannian, and Thérèsian Royal Hearts of goodwill, we come to understand that the Kingdom of God through the Blessed Virgin Mary's Kingdom of Catholic France, The Dove and Rose, is diametrically opposed to the Kingdom of Man with its Luciferian master. There can be no compromise with the spiritual, political, and cultural forces in conflict with the Kingdom and that seek the destruction of Christ's Holy Catholic Church which is the seed of the Kingdom of God on earth.
Thus, a consequence of the Royal Heart of goodwill is the necessity for complete fidelity and intellectual integrity, even if that courageous honesty challenges some of our most cherished core values, established learning, and pre-conceived notions. Stated in the negative, the consequence of holding back an idol or two in our tabernacle (as did the Old Testament Jews in the desert) is the risk of losing our sanctifying grace and not persevering to the end (Mt. 24:13). The Royal Heart is intensely uncompromising no matter how obtuse we become with mainstream society as this is required to persevere and endure to the end. We are not of the Luciferian City of Man. We are of the Divine City of God.
The practical expression of The Dove and Rose in the world, then, is one of contemplation and doing the work of the Kingdom in Eucharistic Adoration through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The Dove and Rose does not have a formal organization. We simply are kindred souls adoring Christ through Mary's Heart in union with the saints in Heaven and with each other, even if we never know one another on this earth.
If you are a person of goodwill and desire The Dove and Rose, then pursue its fulfillment with all your heart (Mt. 13: 31-32) and know that you are not alone as you adore Christ in His Eucharist and seek to fulfill His commandment to bring Our Lady's Kingdom "on earth as it is in Heaven." Know also that if we do persevere to the end, we will gather together one day as a family in our tabernacle for the great Feast of the Tabernacles that will never end.
May Our Lady the Blessed Virgin Mary who holds the fleur-de-lys close to her heart, with St. Joan of Arc and St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, pray for us always!
[1] Coulombe, Desire and Deception - How Catholics Stopped Believing, 43. “St. Anselm (1033-1109), archbishop of Canterbury, formulated what may be considered the rallying cry of Ultra-Realism in particular and Christian Philosophy in general: ‘I believe that I may understand.’” See also p. 17, “The Church Fathers looked primarily to Plato as the foremost Greek philosopher. He first proposed the idea of ‘Universals,’ that is of ideal prototypes of things like ‘Man’ and ‘Horse,’ as well as abstract qualities like ‘Love’ and ‘Honor.’”
[2] Hertz, Beyond Politics, loc. 4368.
[3] Hertz, Utopia Nowhere, loc. 819.
[4] Hertz, Beyond Politics, loc. 4576.
The challenge of cultivating a Royal Heart today, even for people of good will, is that our entire culture is steeped in revolutionary liberalism. It is the very air we breathe. To be counterrevolutionary then, requires us to weed out those liberal impulses in order to practice true obedience and fidelity to Christ our King.