Words of Relevance: St Joan of Arc: Living Without Faith

Joan of Arc, "The Maid of Orleans," who, on this day in 1431, was burned at the stake at the age of nineteen, was subsequently declared a martyr in 1456, and canonized a saint in 1920, is one of the most interesting saints in the history of the Church.  You can read more about her life by clicking HERE.

Today's quote, uttered just before her being burned at the stake, manifests her deep faith in God, which she credited for her being able to lead the French to victory over the British in the Hundred Years' War.

Here's the quote:

To live without faith is more terrible than the fire, more terrible than dying young. I have nothing more to do here. Send me back to God, from whom I came.

Today is her Feast Day.

Words of Relevance: Edmund Burke on The Age of Reason

Edmund Burke, famous Irish author and statesman of the 18th century, is quoted in Russell Kirk's seminal work, The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Eliot,
on the subject of The Age of Reason. Those among us who profess to believe only in Reason, and totally ignore Faith (except for their Faith in Reason), might give some thought to the reasoning of Burke.

Here's the quote:

The Age of Reason...was in reality an Age of Ignorance.  If (as most men, since the beginning of human history, have believed) the foundation of human welfare is divine providence, then the limitation of politics and ethics to a puny “reason” is an act of folly, the refuge of a ridiculous presumption.

Kirk goes on: Precisely this blindness to the effulgence of the burning bush, this deafness to the thunder above Sinai, is what Burke proclaims to be the principal error of the French "enlightenment."

Words of Relevance: Charles E. Rice on The Homosexual Movement

Charles E. Rice, emeritus professor at the University of Notre Dame Law School (and former assistant coach of the Notre Dame Boxing Club), in his latest literary contribution provides us with today's quote, which explains in clear language just what the homosexual movement is really about.

Here's the quote:

The homosexual movement is not at all about a right of persons to be free from unjust discrimination against them and their lifestyle.  Rather, it is a totalitarian movement that demands that society and the law affirm those lifestyles not only as good but also as entitled to special privilege even to the point of abrogating millennia of moral tradition dating back to Genesis.

Words of Relevance: Malcolm Muggeridge on Believing Lies

Malcolm Muggeridge is quoted today in an essay penned by Fr. James Schall at The Catholic Thing Blog, entitled: On Really Loving the Hairless Bipeds.

Fr. Schall, discusses Robert Reilly's new book: The Gaying of America, (see previous post), in which book, the author "remarks that often we are content to lie to ourselves about what is, about what we do and hold." Reilly then quotes Malcolm Muggeridge in a passage that "pretty well sums up what the devilish mind seeks to establish in us; that is, a willingness to lie about even the most obvious truths, if they go counter to what we want."  

Here's the quote:

“People do not believe lies because they have to, but because they want to.”

Words of Relevance: Robert R. Reilly: Evil as Good

Robert R. Reilly has written a book with what will surely be treated as a controversial title: The Gaying of America.   You can read an essay on the book posted today at Crisis Magazine by Austin Ruse by clicking HERE.  Ruse explains how society has come to accept what Aristotle cautioned against, but Rousseau encouraged.

Here's the quote:

 “Anyone who chooses an evil act must present it to himself as good; otherwise, as Aristotle taught, he would be incapable of choosing it. When we rationalize, we convince ourselves that heretofore forbidden desires are permissible. In short, we assert that bad is good.” 

Words of Relevance: Aristotle on Man & Virtue

Donald Kagan, writing today at The Imaginative Conservative, quoted Aristotle in a piece entitled: Why We Should Study the History of Western Civilization.

 Kagan recommends an examination of "the older traditions of the West that came before the modern era and to take seriously the possibility that useful wisdom can be found there, especially among the Greeks who began it all.  They understood the potentiality of human beings, their limitations, and the predicament in which they live. Man is potent and important, yet he is fallible and mortal, capable of the greatest achievements and the worst crimes. He is a tragic figure, powerful but limited, with freedom to choose and act but bound by his own nature, knowing that he will never achieve perfect knowledge and understanding, justice and happiness, but determined to continue the search."  

Kagan quotes Aristotle on the necessity of man to be virtuous.  Here's the quote:

As man is the best of the animals when perfected, so he is the worst when separated from law and justice. For injustice is most dangerous when it is armed, and man, armed by nature with good sense and virtue, may use them for entirely opposite ends. Therefore, when he is without virtue man is the most unscrupulous and savage of the animals . . .

Words of Relevance: St. John Paul II Top 10 Quotes

Dr. Taylor Marshall posted the Top 10 quotes from the newly canonized Saint John Paul II on his blog today.

Here they are:

“Faith and Reason are like two wings of the human spirit by which it soars to the truth.” 

“Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and Alleluia is our song.”

“Do not be afraid. Do not be satisfied with mediocrity. Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”

“I plead with you! Never, ever give up on hope, never doubt, never tire, and never become discouraged. Be not afraid.”

“The worst prison would be a closed heart.”

“A person’s rightful due is to be treated as an object of love, not as an object for use.”

“As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live.”

“It is the duty of every man to uphold the dignity of every woman.” 

“If He asks much of you, it is because He knows you can give much.”

“Love between man and woman cannot be built without sacrifices and self-denial.”