Tea at Trianon: The Holy Name of Jesus

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

Thursday, January 3, 2008

The Holy Name of Jesus

January 2 is the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. Catholic Exchange has some reflections.

Through his Holy Name, Jesus can become the constant companion of our souls. By keeping His Name constantly within our hearts, He can be with us in all of our joys and sorrows. This is the secret of sanctity. One of the pitfalls that we must avoid in our spiritual life, especially in our distracted modern culture, is forgetting God. We may be able to carve out regular time to pray. But afterwards, does anything change? Or after our communion with God in prayer, do we live the rest of our lives as if He did not exist? By constantly remembering His Name, we constantly remember God and the true purpose of our lives. The more we remember Jesus, the more we see His presence and His grace everywhere, turning all the moments of our lives into opportunities for sanctity.