Tea at Trianon: Leadership is 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

Thursday, February 7, 2019

Leadership is Love

From The Catholic Gentleman:

Leadership is love because both love and leadership require sacrifices. A sacrifice is the unconditional gift of a good or service rightly belonging to the one who freely gives for the sake of others. Sacrifices cost something of value for the sake of something even more valuable. Love is a sacrifice, since it wills the good of others for their sake, not for one’s own. Leadership is a sacrifice, since it costs time, effort, and energy, among other tangible and intangible things, to pursue the good of others for their sake, not for one’s own.

The efficient cause of leadership and love transact as a sacrifice. Leadership is a sacrificial service rendered out of love. Simply put, leadership is love. Look no further for evidence than to the sacrifice of Christ Jesus, who died on the cross out of love to lead us back into himself. Christ tells us there is no greater act of love than for one to lay down his life for his friends. I know this from firsthand experience. Army service is known for exemplary leadership, which in turn is a sacrifice. If my time-honored profession has taught me any good lesson worth sharing, it is to deem honorable the men and women who offered the fullest measure of devotion to love by sacrificing their lives for their friends. Their love leads others to follow.

Yet, it may be argued that some sacrifices are done for sake of duty. Is it not the Christian’s ultimate duty to love? Christ commanded that we must love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Sacrifices made for the sake of duty are made for the sake of love. If leadership is a sacrifice made of duty, than essentially it is made of love. Put simply, leadership is love. (Read more.)