Season 4 Episode 1
Welcome to a new season! Why season four and what is it about?
Up to this point my discussions have been quite conceptual, and there is a reason for that. However, I sense that the time is right to begin making this phenomenological journey on the Trail of the Dogmatic Creed with St. Joan and St. Thérèse more concrete. I want to ask them to join us now. Rather than speaking about them and their influence on us, why not speak more with them? In this episode, I am introducing stories from their lives that you can contemplate to begin your own “descriptive phenomenology.” Season four will build on this modality of expression.
Reflective question
How can you begin your own descriptive phenomenology using the stories I introduce here with St. Joan and St. Thérèse?
Quotations from this podcast
It was only through Mary that God the Father gave His only begotten to the world. Whatever sighs the patriarchs may have sent forth, whatever prayers the prophets and the saints of the Old Law may have offered up to obtain this treasure for full four thousand years, it was only Mary who merited it and found grace before God (Lk. 1:30) by the force of her prayers and the eminence of her virtues. The world was unworthy, says Saint Augustine, to receive the Son of God directly from the Father’s hands. He gave Him to Mary in order that the world might receive Him through her.1
We find expression of the same or even deeper impressions when, on one occasion, a sudden storm filled the skies with lightning flashes. “I turned now to the left, now to the right,” declared the little one, “in order to lose nothing of that brilliant spectacle. I saw a thunderbolt fall into a neighboring meadow, and far from being terrified, I was enchanted at the sight; it seemed to me that the good God was quite near.”2
“They say that a maid passed by the city of Gien, a maid who presented herself to the noble dauphin to raise the siege of Orléans and to lead the dauphin to Reims so that he might be anointed.“…. “Since I was the guardian of the city of Orléans, being lieutenant-general once the war began, I sent to the king’s court the sire de Villars, who was seneschal of Beaucaire, and Jamet du Tillet, who later was bailiff of the Vermandois, for fuller information concerning this maiden.”3
I am also the co-host of the Heroic Hearts podcast with Amy Chase. Heroic Hearts is devoted to a spiritual adventure with St. Joan of Arc and St. Thérèse of Lisieux! Join us on the journey!
Visit Amy’s Substack, The Occidental Tourist.
de Montfort, True Devotion to Mary with Preparation for Total Consecration. p. 8
Laveille, The Life of St. Thérèse of Lisieux - The Original Biography Commissioned by Her Sister. p. 70
Pernoud and Clin, Joan of Arc - Her Story. pp. 9-10
S4E1 - The Dove and Rose - Phenomenology with St. Joan and St. Thérèse