Tea at Trianon: Tobit Teaches Truth on Marriage & Family

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, September 21, 2022

Tobit Teaches Truth on Marriage & Family

From Catholic Exchange:

In the midst of so much turmoil in our world, especially with regard to the primary cell of society—the family, the Book of Tobit offers us invaluable lessons.

The key or linchpin that serves to purify, ennoble and save two families experiencing very serious problems is the intervention of a person whose name is Raphael.

In fact Raphael is an angelic person, whose name can be interpreted as God heals or Medicine of God. You might even title Raphael as the Angelic Physician.
Two Monumental Problems: The Intervention Of Raphael. All families have problems; this is part of the common lot of humanity. However, there are different ways to react towards problems. We can react by giving into despair, or we can entrust our problems to God and rely on God’s overlying strength.

First Problem: Tobit’s affliction with blindness. A very good man, Tobit left his meal to attend to those who were afflicted and dying. After affording the dead proper burial and exhausted, Tobit falls asleep with his eyes open and birds let their droppings fall into his eyes. Despite the good will and efforts of Doctors, the poor Tobit’s eyes go from bad to worse and he ends up totally blind. The loss of his sight causes Tobit unspeakable pain and anguish. He even ends up having a heated quarrel with his wife, adding greater suffering to his affliction. (Read more.)