The Philosophical Foundations of Le Royaume
The Philosophical Foundations of Le Royaume
Turning around our glasses
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Le Royaume, the Kingdom Blessed of St. Joan and St. Thérèse, is my single point of reference in life. This Kingdom is my final form, purpose, and meaning in life. I relate to the world from her, and through her, I interpret the world. She is the gift of life from God, Our Father in Heaven.
Le Royaume is the Kingdom of God I was instructed to seek by the Immaculate Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well." ~ Matthew 6:33. Our Lady transformed my life through grace, revealing Truth to me, which is her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and fostered in me a heart of goodwill through her motherly love for me and her own Immaculate Heart. She reached out to me, and I responded.
"Just before the Great Event, something softened me up to Catholicism. It was the prayer of the Hail Mary. This prayer affected me profoundly because the words' Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death' struck me. I had never heard that prayer before the Monday night we studied it, at least not that I remember… My heart warmed to the idea that sinners could pray to the Mother of God for help.
~ (From my book, Journey to Christendom - The Freedom Dance.)
Though I came to believe through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, it was not without my celestial sister's assistance and loving patronage, St. Thérèse of Lisieux.
"That moment, on a fall evening on the Feast Day of St. Thérèse, forever changed my life and ultimately led me on a journey that would result in what you read here."
~ Ibid.
Having surrendered my intellect to the truths of the faith through Our Lady and St. Thérèse, I nevertheless struggled for the next two decades. My belief in the Church, the Eucharist, the doctrines and dogmas of the faith never wavered; yet, my life fell deeper and deeper into a dark crevice. I never questioned my faith, for the very reason that I did not see it so much as "my" faith as it was Truth given to me as a gift. It was an objective reality from above, not a personal opinion subject to modification based on available data, no matter how bleak. Nothing was wrong with the faith; everything was wrong with me. I needed to come out of the Dark Forest and move upward in the sunlight toward this faith's final eternal form, not define the faith for myself in a way that reduces this final form to the boundaries of the Dark Forest. This perspective is critical to understanding the program of Le Royaume, as we will see in the following chapters. It is a perspective I formerly could not communicate systematically to another, but now I can. It is this life-saving perspective that I want you to acquire through the program.
My problem now lay with the way I believed. What we believe is one thing. How we believe it is quite another. It is like having a pair of glasses that, objectively speaking, will correct your vision, but by having them on backward, they have no corrective power. The glasses work, but how you use them mitigates their effectiveness. So too, did I find with my gift of faith. The faith worked, but the way I believed that faith mitigated its power to transform my life.
The answer to my dilemma came by grace in the form of Thérèse's spiritual sister, St. Joan of Arc. Through Joan, I acquired a new point of view; that is, my glasses were turned around, and I could see. The power of faith imbued my soul. A new life began in me. Meaning, purpose, and joy flooded my being.
"St. Joan of Arc is the one chosen to take me on this important part of my life's journey. She represents the instrument in God's hands to complete Jesus' project in my life. She is the answer to my prayer that I earnestly put before the Lord to unite me to the heart of Mary, an epic journey of twenty-five years. The mist rose after so many years, and I see the landscape. My saintly guide Joan of Arc is ready, by the command of the King and Queen of heaven, to ride with me into the paradise that is Mary's heart, this being the completion of Our Lord's project in me."
~ (From my book, Seek First the Kingdom: The March of Hope.)
How Joan of Arc brought about this spiritual miracle by God's grace is the point of writing the Le Royaume Program. I desire to share with those who might want to know to ask Joan of Arc, with Thérèse at her side, to do the same for them. I am writing this out of charity for my fellow man and of my heartfelt love and gratitude to St. Joan and St. Thérèse.
In his book Joan of Arc, Mark Twain uses the brilliant method of telling her story from a third-person perspective, that of Joan's military page, Louis de Conte. Sieur Louis relates his tale from the perspective of an older man recalling his adventures with The Maid of Orléans many decades ago. My method in the Program of Le Royaume is similar in spirit. I do not write it as a spiritual advisor; I am no one's advisor. I do not write it as a guide; I am no one's guide. I write simply as a witness, like the older man I am becoming, sitting before the fireplace to share my life's adventures with Joan of Arc and Thérèse of Lisieux. I want to tell you where we went and how we got there.
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