Tea at Trianon: Pancakes with 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, May 12, 2022

Pancakes with Jesus

I opened our church bulletin and was greeted by a flyer with a cartoon based on Da Vinci's masterpiece The Last Supper. Our Lord and His Apostles were shown eating pancakes, eggs and bacon at the seder supper which was also the first Mass. There is Judas grabbing his money bag. Jesus is shown, without a beard for some reason, ready to consecrate a platter of pancakes. It seemed to be a crude mockery of a mystery of our faith, which appalled me. I was more appalled when I realized it was an invitation to the Women's Guild Annual Brunch at our parish at which a fellow Catholic author was invited to speak. Here is an excerpt of the letter I wrote to my pastor and his associate:

...I have to say I was surprised by the cartoon version of Da Vinci's Last Supper announcing [author's name] talk at the women's breakfast. If I did not personally know how devout [author's name] is and assume, based on my experience of our parish, that the ladies of the club are also fervent and faith-filled, I would think it was a cartoon mocking a sacred mystery of our faith. Especially since it looks like it was drawn by the same artist who draws Dennis the Menace. Da Vinci's Last Supper not only portrays the sacred seder of the Jews, Our Lord's last before His horrendous suffering, but it also commemorates the institution of the priesthood. Most of all, the painting captures the moment when Jesus informs the Twelve that one of them is about to betray Him. And they exclaim, "Is it I, Lord?" It is a powerful moment of art and of faith, and is diminished somewhat by the addition of pancakes, eggs, bacon and sausage in the mode of Dennis the Menace...I know we often have people visiting our parishes and they might get the wrong idea of how seriously we take our faith, and whether or not we believe in the Eucharist. I realize that such a drawing helps many people feel closer to God, by seeing the Mass as just another meal with friends. But we cannot forget that the Last Supper was/is a cosmic event, the marriage of Heaven and Earth, the wedding feast of the Lamb. At the very least, such a drawing may be perceived as being tasteless, if not irreverent.