Tea at Trianon: The Lie of the Apostolate

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, August 10, 2023

The Lie of the Apostolate

Some of us mothers have had to leave our families to work in order to make ends meet due to ill, injured or improvident spouses. My writing was an attempt to stay home with my child and may God forgive those who went out of their way to sabotage it. From Melody Lyons at The Wild Return:

My family is my apostolate. My home is my headquarters. My husband is my fundraiser. If God calls me to do some further outreach, it will only be that which does not leave my family unloved, uncared for, or with only the leftovers of who I am.
My apostolic works have often been excuses—distractions— and a means to feeling like a productive Christian while avoiding the harder work. A way of breaking up the boredom of sacrificial work done without devotion.
I would have been a better woman, wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, and homeschooler over the last 27 years if I hadn't bought into the idea that I needed to become some kind of minister to the whole world. Some moms have the gift of being high energy. I am not one of them. And I have exhausted myself in so many different directions, convinced that my outreaches and apostolic works were the moral equivalent of what I was doing at home. I was wrong.
I once printed out the words of Pope St. John Paul II when speaking about the poor of the world, to recall them during my daily work. He said:
"You must never be content to leave them just the crumbs of the feast. You must take of your substance, and not just of your abundance, in order to help them. And you must treat them like guests at your family table."
I fancied myself a real winner because I thought I understood his message. Give to those less fortunate and give until it hurts! I knew what it meant to be on the receiving end of Christ-like sacrificial love and I knew the power of the mercy of Jesus and I wanted to be that for others. My problem was that I didn't see the hypocrisy of leaving the crumbs for my own children while I fed strangers. (Read more.)