Tea at Trianon: The Heart of Hospitality

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, May 22, 2019

The Heart of Hospitality

From I Came for the Soup:

The right and left hand of hospitality are giving and receiving, with grace and mercy being at the heart and soul. Giving: giving calls us to not just give of our possessions but, again, of our presence, time, and emotion. It calls us to be present in the circumstances of others as we minister to their needs. This comes from the heart.

Receiving: receiving calls us to not only carry the loads of our brothers and sisters in Christ as well as our neighbors who have not yet come to Christ, but it calls us to receive the goodness that they would like to pour out into us. When we give to others, they often would like to respond in turn by giving unto us as well. We need to be gracious enough to receive as there is a blessing in store for both the one who gives and the one able to receive. The beautiful image that comes to mind with the arms of hospitality is the perfect embrace, one that supports, fills up, and enables release. Having a heart of hospitality brings healing. It also brings hope. (Read more.)