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October 1
Thérèse of Lisieux, Ralph Crockett, Edward James, the Battle of Gaugamela, and "In God We Trust"
David Barnhart
October 01, 2025
Courtyard a the Jesuit Mission of Chiquitos, Bolivia, 2008. Own photo.
On this day in 331 BCE, Alexander the Great’s army defeated King Darius III of Persia at the Battle of Gaugamela. Alexander put the stamp of Greek and Macedonian culture on much of the Ancient Near East, so much so that 300 years later, Greek was the common language of the authors of the New Testament. Jesus used a term from Greek theater, “hypocrites,” or “actor,” to describe religious posers. His disciples would later call their community “ekklesia” (which we call “church”) named after the voting body of ancient Athens. Greek was so universal that most Jews even read their sacred scriptures in Greek.
Today marks the first day, in 1956, that “In God We Trust” was printed on American money, mostly as a response to the fear “godless communism” threat of the Cold War.
Today is the Feast Day of Thérèse of Lisieux, who died in 1897, a French Carmelite sister whose spiritual autobiography emphasized “the little way” of small acts of love rather than heroic faith. Her story was relatable and honest about her struggles with doubt and the precocious faith of her childhood.
Today marks the martyrdom, in 1588, of Ralph Crockett and Edward James, two Roman Catholic priests who were executed for trying to enter England.
Reflection:
“In God We Trust” was a form of early White Christian Nationalism, an attempt to recruit the power of the federal government to promote a particular religion in violation of the first amendment. Both the Confederacy and the Union invoked the motto, and it was appended to our currency during the Red Scare. You don’t have to be particularly faithful or follow Jesus closely to cling to such identity markers, and I regard the motto as a form of “taking the name of God in vain.” It is fitting, though, that the message is printed on our currency, since the god of our nation is capitalism.
I’m increasingly of the opinion that if I cannot replace the word “God” with “Love” in a sentence, that the theology is sketchy. Could our country honestly say, “In Love we trust?”
Some quotes from Thérèse of Lisieux:
“I understood that every flower created by Him is beautiful, that the brilliance of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not lessen the perfume of the violet or the sweet simplicity of the daisy. I understood that if all the lowly flowers wished to be roses, nature would no longer be enameled with lovely hues. And so it is in the world of souls, Our Lord's living garden.”
Our fulcrum is God: our lever, prayer; prayer which burns with love. With that we can lift the world!
“Then, overcome by joy, I cried, 'Jesus, my love. At last I have found my vocation. My vocation is love. In the heart of the Church, my mother, I will be love, and then I will be all things.”
Prayer: God, may we be love. Amen.