St. Joan of Arc and What the State of Grace Really Means

Early on the Christian path, my interactions with “grace” painted a collage of images.

Seeing God’s gift as something beautiful happened every time I tearfully sang John Newton’s hymn “Amazing Grace.” Later on, I equated grace with “sufficiency” after diving deep into the life of the apostle Paul. If God’s grace alone sufficed to help him endure that painful thorn, then it would surely strengthen my legs to withstand tough times too. While both encounters powerfully shaped how I thought about grace, it wasn’t until I watched “The Passion of Joan of Arc” that I became acutely aware of how living in a state of grace supernaturally connects us with God. Grace fits us now on earth for the glory of heaven.

And by drawing us into the Trinity, we are empowered to become truly “God-like” and live the deiform life.

According to St. Thomas Aquinas, all things of God fill the heart and satisfy every desire in the state of grace. The soul coexists with the world while possessing the divine benevolence that is God Himself. As we are made in his image, we begin to share in his qualities, one of which is immortality. Living in the “state of grace” liberates us from death.

A wonderful model is St. Joan of Arc.

God’s sanctifying grace sustains her in the face of torture and trial as it did St. Paul. Willing her death, the “kangaroo” ecclesiastical court tries to entrap her into a “no-win” scenario. When asked if she was in a state of grace, St. Joan answers “If I am not, may God put me there; and if I am, may God so keep me.” 

Her persecutors refuse to accept her elevation to share in God’s divinity by the un-created gift of grace conferred on her. St. Joan’s state of grace is evident by her purity; yearning to seek only union with God (Eucharist) and revelation that began at thirteen. She meets the necessity for the infusion of grace by baptism. Cleansed of original sin, the warrior saint received the sacrament in Saint-Remy Church.

St. Joan of Arc joins many saints who lived on earth in a state of grace.

What about us?  If Christ calls us to be saints, then it is within our human capacity to become saints.

While the people in our walk of life may not satisfy all of the necessary conditions due to the propensity of sin, many are indeed living the deiform life – albeit imperfectly. Right before our eyes these hidden souls are partaking in God’s divine nature.

My parents are wonderful models possessing the prayerful qualities of the grace lived life. Despite great suffering, the infusion of sanctifying grace to keep faith in tragedy, reflecting the joy of Christ in spite of paralysis, pouring out love for their children all signal that they are like the hidden owls abiding in the light of the sun – souls imperfectly living the deiform life by grace.

Hail Mary, full of Grace.