Celebrating post 600th Anniversary!

 

up-date from …

 

 

 

PILGRIM WITNESSES:

 

Greetings!

 

 Time is flying by now. FYI, the final details for the Joan of Arc pilgrimage of 2012 are now posted on our website.

 Here’s the introduction:

 

-Joan of Arc and Prophet-French Pilgrimage,

The dates will be May 15 thru May 27, 2013.

Celebrating Joan of Arc’s 601th Anniversary

 

God willing, in May 2013, we will lead our sixth pilgrimage to France (our fifth with the spirituality and footsteps of Joan foremost in our plans). 2012 marks Joan’s 600th birthday anniversary, and this will be celebrated in various ways throughout France. As before, the philosophy we are aiming for on this trip is one of going back to the essentials, of simplicity, of quality time in some places instead of ‘rush-rush’ in many. We will indeed see much, but we want to experience the places we visit more as spiritual travelers than as consumers. Indeed, our goal is to first see things through the eyes of believers, and then from other perspectives; such as historical, architectural, sociological, as tourists, etc.

Many thanks to our chaplains, Father Michael Rodriguez and Father Angelo Vanderputten; our guides Dr. John Rao, James Bogle, Chris Ferrara; and the 40 American pilgrims who made up this year’s U.S. Chapter of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  Please see the next issue of The Remnant for a complete photo story on this year’s Pilgrimage to Chartres as well as day pilgrimages to Fatima, Pontmain, St. Jacut de la Mer, St. Malo, Mont Saint-Michel, Rouen and Versailles. And please consider joining us again next year for the 2013 Notre-Dame de Chretiente Pentecost Pilgrimage to Chartres.

Consequently, the maximum number of people we’ll take will be 16.

 

Joan of Arc and Prophecy!

 

These two subjects form especially fascinating building blocks for this trip, and we’ll be touching on them in various ways throughout the pilgrimage. A part of Mark Twain’s 1904 essay on Joan addresses the intersection of the two: “…Her (i.e. Joan of Arc’s) history has still another feature which sets her apart and leaves her without fellow or competitor: there have been many uninspired prophets, but she was the only one who ever ventured the daring detail of naming, along with a foretold event, the event’s precise nature, the special time-limit within which it would occur, and the place—and scored fulfillment. At Vaucouleurs she said she must go to the King and be made his general, and break the English power, and crown him sovereign—‘at Reims’. It all happened. It was all to happen ‘next year’—and it did. She foretold her first wound and its character and date a month in advance, and the prophecy was recorded in a public record-book three weeks in advance. She repeated it the morning of the date named, and it was fulfilled before night.

At Tours she foretold the limit of her military career—saying it would end in one year from the time of its utterance—and she was right. She foretold her martyrdom—using that word, and naming a time three months away—and again she was right. At a time when France seemed hopelessly and permanently in the hands of the English she twice asserted in her prison before her judges that within seven years the English would meet with a mightier disaster than had been the fall of Orleans: it happened within five-the fall of Paris. Other prophecies of hers came true, both as to the event named and the time-limit prescribed…” Joan of Arc-An Essay by Mark Twain

 

Let’s take a closer quick look at these two subjects.

 

First, Joan of Arc.

Did you know that:

• Apparently, she is the most attested person in history up to the 16th century.
• At 17 years old, she remains the youngest supreme military commander in history, male or female.
• When working in the fields as a child, she was often observed falling to her knees in prayer at the sound of the local church bells.
• As she was about to be burned to death, she was heard praying for her executioners (much like Jesus).
• In fact, there are many similarities with Joan of Arc and the saint/prophets of the Bible.
• The same church that burned her at the stake on May 30, 1431, canonized her a saint on May 16, 1920-nearly 500 years later. She is now France’s Patron saint, and her legacy to both France and the world runs deep.
• Her prophecies were famous even in her own time. They were very specific, even giving certain time limits in which they would be fulfilled.  

‘…and from what we can ascertain, she never made a mistake. ‘

 

… and speaking of Prophecy

 

Did you know that:

• Almost every book of the Bible contains prophecy.
• Through prophecy we see: the words of God, the character of God, the hand of God, the role of prophecy and of course, the prophecies themselves.
• Fulfilled prophecy, without error, is one of the main defining differences between Christianity/Judaism and all other religions, both past and present.

 

Ralph Muncaster, a contemporary Christian author, tells us:

 “One hundred-percent accurate historical prophecy provides irrefutable ‘proof’ that a God from beyond time and space inspired the Bible.”

Why? Because there are well over 600 historical (thus verifiable) prophecies contained in the Bible–with none ever shown to be wrong. The odds of this happening without the involvement of God are inconceivable-considered ‘absurd’ by statisticians.

For example, just 48 of the prophecies about Jesus coming true in any one person by coincidence is like winning 22 state lotteries in a row with the purchase of one ticket for each. Put another way, the odds are similar to those of one person being struck by lightning 31 times.

Since these prophecies were written hundreds of years before Jesus’ birth (which has been confirmed by archeology), we know they were not contrived after the events. The prophecies were extremely specific, giving names of people, places, timing, and specific descriptions of unusual events. No other purported holy book contains even a few miraculous prophecies, let alone the hundreds found in the Bible.

 

PILGRIMAGE DETAILS – May 2013.

 

 

 

RELATED LINKS:

 This Feature hosted by the Maid of Heaven:  http://www.maidofheaven.com

Movie Reviews:   http://www.maidofheaven.com/joanofarc_book_movie_music_reviews.asp

 (Why Does God Allow Suffering? Ralph Muncaster-Harvest House):

http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Why-Does-God-Allow-Suffering-Ralph-O-Muncaster/9780736906081-item.html?cookieCheck=1

 Roman Catholic Imperialist:  http://www.romancatholicimperialst.com/2009/07/capture-of-joan-of-arc.html 

A Celebration of Women