I'm reading a lovely book called St. Bernadette Speaks, by Fr. Albert Bessieres, SJ, imprimatur 1956. I read it, and I thoroughly enjoy it, but sometimes if I read it aloud or quote it, I see a bit of a language barrier. Fr. Bessieres wrote it in French, and the Earl of Wicklow translated it. Between the French composition and the Earl translating it into English with an Irish accent, it comes out just a teeny bit funny. :)

He wrote in the "voice" of St. Bernadette. He relates the time that the young teenager St. Bernadette stood up to an official who threatened her with prison if she went back to see the Lovely Lady in the Grotto. She defied him and went anyway.


"Some people said that on that day I had the courage of a Joan of Arc... This proves that God gives courage to whom He wishes, when He wishes, and that one remains strong as long as one only goes on thinking of doing what is required of one, while laughing at everything else."

So we remain strong as long as we focus on what we must do, and laugh at everything else! We may not have courage for everything, but we have courage to do what is right. It reminds me of the quote I read somewhere that "we always have time for God's Will, but not necessarily for other things."

Whether we are a St. Joan of Arc, or a St. Thomas Aquinas, or a St. Isidore the Farmer, God will give us the courage (and the time!) to do whatever He wants us to accomplish.