Tea at Trianon: Imitating the Blessed Virgin Mary

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

Saturday, November 21, 2020

Imitating the Blessed Virgin Mary

From Catholic Exchange:

Mary is full of grace not only because she is the Mother of God but also because she is the most perfect of all the disciples of Christ. In fact, Jesus pointed to Mary’s discipleship, rather than her motherhood, as being worthy of praise. In the Gospel of Luke, we read: “A woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!’ But he said, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!’ ” (Luke 11:27–28). Jesus was was saying that Mary is blessed not because she is His Mother but because she hears and observes the word of God in a flawless manner.
As Jesus was about to die, He gave a last commandment to St. John, His disciple standing at the foot of the Cross. This last commandment was meant not only for St. John but for all of Jesus’ disciples, because St. John represents all of us. Scripture tells us: “When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son!’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’ And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home” (John 19:26–27). Before leaving this world, Jesus gave His Mother, Mary, to all of us to be our Mother, protector, and model. (Read more.)

Also from Catholic Exchange:

Tradition tells us that St. Anne and St. Joachim, the mother and father of Mary, suffered from infertility for many years. Pious tradition tells the story of Joachim going out to the desert to pray, and Anne and him both being given a message from God that they would conceive a child. Joachim rushes home to Anne, and Mary is (immaculately) conceived. Icons of St. Anne and St. Joachim typically feature the moment when they are reunited at the city gates, overjoyed by the promise that God has made them.

My husband and I have only experienced relatively short (less that two years) times of infertility, but I know all too well what a gift a long awaited child feels like. St. Anne must have experienced such incredible joy, the first time that she held baby Mary in her arms. Joachim, like all good fathers of daughters, must have delighted in having a little girl of his own. (Read more.)