VIRTUES OF KNIGHTHOOD (Part six)

When Joan of Arc believed that she had received instruction from God, she acted. Consider this example:
Joan was just starting an afternoon rest, when suddenly she sprang up, waking her squire, Jean de Metz. “In God’s name, my counsel has told me I must attack the English.” She wasn’t sure where she should go but quickly arming, she called for her horse and spurred it toward the Burgundy Gate.

She heard someone say the enemy was doing great harm to the French, and indeed Joan could see the Frenchmen running back to the city, some wounded and bleeding. Without alerting Joan, Dunois had launched an attack on the English fortifications at St. Loup, not quite two miles east of the city. The French were getting the worst of it and were in full retreat when Joan appeared. Seeing her with her white standard [banner] raised on high, the French gave a cheer, turned back to the assault, and pressed on with such force that the English suddenly yielded. St. Loup was taken, and the palisades surrounding it were burned to the ground. One hundred fourteen English lays dead, and forty were taken, prisoner. Though not a big battle, this was an important victory. It was the first time in a long siege that the French had captured an English fort. Had the French lost, the English surely would have gone on to capture the Burgundy Gate and to seal off Orleans completely.
Most knights in today’s world will not exercise their faith by defeating the Midianites, slinging rocks at giants, going fishing with Jesus, or launching attacks against English fortifications. But our daily battles are just as critical and real in God’s eyes. God personally asked Gideon to reduce his army and trust more in Him. God filled and used the shell of a young man to defeat a giant warrior, but David himself carried out the act. Jesus, our very personal Lord, asked Peter eye-to-eye to throw the net on the other side of the boat. God pleads with us to rely on Him and trust.

The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord. —Proverbs 21:31 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the Name of the Lord our God. They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm. —Psalm 20:7-8

Yet I will show love to the house of Judah; and I will save them—not by bow, sword, or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but by the Lord their God. —Hosea 1:7

A knight without faith may not possess good habits of life, for by faith a man sees God and His works spiritually and believes in the invisible things. By faith, a man is enabled to have hope, charity, and loyalty and becomes a servant of honesty and truth. Lacking faith, a man will not believe in God’s Incarnation, nor in His works or the things that he cannot directly see—which a man without faith may not understand nor know. Knights whose habits are shaped by faith often go into the land beyond the sea on pilgrimage and there prove their strength and knighthood against the enemies of the Cross and become martyrs if they die. For they fight to uphold the Holy Christian Faith. Also, on account of faith, clerics are defended by Knights from wicked men who, through fraud, rob and disinherit them insofar as possible.

The Knight who has no faith and practices no faith and opposes them who defend it is like a man to whom God has given a reason but who pursues foolishness.

Here are a few questions to ponder on …..
1. How is faith a form of trust?
2. Who are you trusting in your life? Do you have misplaced
trust in someone or something?
3. How can we build more trust in God?
4. Why is faith so important for a knight?
5. How will faith benefit your life in the short run? In the long
run?