COMMENTARY: I’ve always loved Joan of Arc.
True faith, sacrificial faith and strong faith in the face of deadly opposition inspire people, even if they don’t share it or fully understand it. In my daily life, on campuses and at events across America, I’ve witnessed ordinary young women and men unafraid to say what’s right, true and holy about the life that God creates in the womb.
But it’s not easy to be countercultural, no matter when you have a chance to make a difference.
I’ve always loved Joan of Arc, a saint whose life began as a simple girl from the French countryside in the 1400s and who had such a passion for the suffering of her nation that she became a national figure willing to tell the truth, even if it cost her everything.
The novel Joan of Arc tells the story of her life as a labor of love from none other than Mark Twain, best known for The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. Few people know that a man considered to be an agnostic said that writing about a Catholic saint was his favorite project of all time, even calling it his “best.”
