Tea at Trianon: The Test of Love

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

Monday, April 2, 2007

The Test of Love

I begged Our Lord to teach you the secret of sanctity and happiness in the sanctification of the present moment--peacefully. The present moment contains all grace for our sanctification, and it is the only thing that matters.

Keep your eyes ever on the Divine Guest within, Whose love is directing all that concerns you every moment, even the annoying little things that cause irritation. Be generous with Him, and let your joy be in sacrifice. It was His joy. He came from Heaven to prove it to us, and love can find no other real test....

Sweet and peaceful conformity to God's Will is the test of love. It is often crucifying to self-love and self-will, but suffering was the chosen portion of Our Lord, and the faithful lover should want no other.

--Fragrance from Alabaster by Mother Aloysius of the Blessed Sacrament, OCD
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