Tea at Trianon: Conversion and Spiritual Reading

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Conversion and Spiritual Reading

Lent is a time of conversion. Don Marco has some beautiful reflections on conversion and lectio divina. In Lents of the past, I have often read Preparation for Death by Saint Alphonsus Liguori. It is a life-changing book which can be pondered many times with new riches revealed in each reading. Saint Alphonsus is great at putting everything into perspective. His work on The Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ is excellent Lenten material, too.

Another book that can be read repeatedly, offering fresh insights, is one I saw recommended on Elena's site. It is The Hidden Power of Kindness by Father Lovasik. I have sometimes used it in adult etiquette classes, because it explores kindness as the essence of our interactions with others; good manners are empty without charity of heart. It is a book which helps with outward behavior as well as giving spiritual advice. Father Lovasik speaks of the dangers of discouragement to the spiritual life:

There are few things which resist grace so much as discouragement. Many plans for God's glory have failed because there was no bright look or or kind eye or kind word to support them. You may not have come forward with the help your brother needs, because you were busy with your own work and never looked at his, or because you were jealous and looked coldly and spoke critically.

A kind deed, a kind word, or the mere tone of voice is enough to convey sympathy to the poor suffering heart, and in one instant all is right again. The downcast soul is encouraged to do bravely the very thing which, in a mood of discouragement, it had almost resolved to leave undone. That encouragement may be the first link of a new chain, which, when finished, will result in final perseverance. (Lovasik, Lawrence. The Hidden Power of Kindness. p.10)

How vital it is especially in families to help each other fend off discouragement, especially when the times are full of foreboding. Lent is a wonderful season to start building new, positive patterns of behavior.