June 7--Bl. Franz Jaegerstaetter, Martyr

World War II gave the Church many martyrs, among them St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (also known as St. Edith Stein), and today's saint, Bl. Franz Jaegerstaetter, an Austrian farmer who refused to fight on behalf of Germany.  Bl. Jaegerstaetter opposed the Anchluss, or annexation, of Austria by Germany.  He was drafted, trained, and then received deferments three times.  However, when he was drafted in 1943 he refused to take a loyalty oath to Hitler, was imprisoned for six months and was then beheaded and cremated on August 9.  His ashes were reburied in 1946 and he was beatified in 2007 by Pope Benedict XVI.

There were Catholics in Germany and Austria who served in the German army.  Bl. Jaegerstaetter's own pastor and bishop also encouraged him to serve if drafted.  He refused, telling his attorney:  “I can only act on my own conscience. I do not judge anyone. I can only judge myself.  I have considered my family. I have prayed and put myself and my family in God’s hands. I know that, if I do what I think God wants me to do, he will take care of my family.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church guides us with regards to conscience:  "Deep within his conscience man discovers a law which he has not laid upon himself but which he must obey. Its voice, ever calling him to love and to do what is good and to avoid evil, sounds in his heart at the right moment. . . . For man has in his heart a law inscribed by God. . . . His conscience is man's most secret core and his sanctuary. There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths" (1776).  "When he listens to his conscience, the prudent man can hear God speaking" (1777).  We are all called to form and follow our consciences just as Bl. Franz Jaegerstaetter did and let God guide us and give us his grace to do his will.

May 30--St. Joan of Arc, Virgin

May 30—St. Joan of Arc, Virgin

What seems more amazing, a woman hearing voices from the saints or a woman leading men into battle?  Both are found in one woman, St. Joan of Arc.  Born a peasant, Joan of Arc claimed a special mission from God, to lead the French in victory over the English during the Hundred Years War in the 15^th century.  She was able to convince the French leadership of her special calling and raised the siege of Orleans, while also leading her men in holiness by requiring them to attend Mass on Sundays and to avoid the sins of a soldier’s life.  She was eventually captured, sold to the English, tried on trumped-up charges of heresy and witchcraft and finally, burned at the stake.  She was vindicated in a second trial after the Hundred Years War, beatified in 1909 and canonized in 1920.  She is a co-patroness of France.

Joan of Arc’s crime was her success.  She listened to the voices that spoke to her and was punished by men.  When she defied the voices that spoke to her she was rewarded by men, but lost sight of her calling.  We, too, have a voice that speaks to us.  It is the voice of God who speaks to us:  in Scripture, in the Magisterium of the Church, in the sound advice and just commands of those who love us.  God also speaks to us through our hearts, in our consciences.  If we violate our conscience, we defy the voice of God.  Does that mean we can do whatever we desire?  No.  We are also called to form our consciences by those other voices that God gives to us: the Bible, the Church, our parents, and authority that follows God and God’s natural law.  We, too, will be punished by others when we stand for love, justice, and right.  But we will be following in the footsteps of one greater than Joan of Arc.  We will be walking the way of the cross with Jesus.