KYLE writes:

Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from Syria (possibly Afghanistan too) has stirred the hornets’ nest with Mattis resigning, markets diving and neoconservative politicians and pundits prophesying the end times. No matter the final outcome or true motivation for this move (to prepare an invasion of Iran?), the mere suggestion that the U.S. military should get out of the Middle East elicits instant rancor from politicians, the military-industrial complex and pundits on television. What will become of Israel if the U.S. no longer sends young Americans to be killed while clearing the way for Israel’s nation building?

The move to pull out of Syria brought to mind the interviews former Democratic Ohio Congressman Jim Traficant gave in the last years of his life and how his deflection of the charges of anti-Semitism from neocon blockheads like Sean Hannity proved Ron Paul (the only man to stand up for Traficant publicly) and Pat Buchanan right when it came to the open conspiracy of America’s Zionist efforts in the Middle East. Read More »

TOM H. writes:

I have greatly profited from reading your posts on a semi-regular basis since 2013—a time when my faith was heavily challenged and I was uncertain about whether I would ever meet a woman to marry and start a family in the morass of a Western world that has lost its way. Read More »

GERALD DUNSTON was a successful and energetic man. Confident, smart and hard-working, he did very well in his career and had a nice wife, house, and two dogs.

Everything went well in Gerald’s life until one morning he woke with a rumbly in his tumbly. “That’s odd,” he thought of the twinges of pain in his lower abdomen. The discomfort subsided and he dismissed it and thought nothing more of it.

But two days later the pain returned in sporadic stabs. That was even more odd. Then it returned every day for a month. He told his wife about it. He was disturbed and they both decided he should go to the doctor, something he almost never did.

He explained his symptoms in the medical office. The doctor listened attentively and then suggested he go to a specialist. The specialist, one of the best in the field, also listened carefully and ordered tests. Gerald did not like these invasive procedures but he submitted to them anyway as this pain was highly annoying.

He returned to the specialist’s office for the results. The specialist was a methodical man, “detail-oriented,” as they say, and careful especially in everything he said to his patients.

He looked squarely and compassionately at Gerald and said, “I’m afraid I have bad news.” Read More »

REBECCA sends a donation and writes:

Thank you for all you do, the work we notice and the inestimable work we don’t.

Blessings and peace to you as you experience this Holy Season without your parents. Read More »

ERIC writes:

Do you know if, in a Catholic society, we would be saying “Merry Christmas” before Christmas Day?  Would we say “Happy Advent” even if it’s a penitential season? Would we say “Merry Christmas” until February 2? Read More »

ONE BEAUTIFUL SUMMER DAY a few years ago, my husband and I were taking a long walk through a picturesque New England village in the mountains of New Hampshire. We have walked 11,000 miles or so together in our 31 years of marriage. Well, that’s what we estimated once. We have walked through city streets and leafy suburbs, on beaches and on empty country roads. No place that we have walked, however, has been more enchanting than this village, with its white clapboard buildings, its dark pond, its emerald common, its turreted inn, granite boulders and crystalline river, all overshadowed by the austere and noble White Mountains in the background. On this day, the sky was dazzlingly blue, and clear.

As we approached the bridge over the river, we saw people, about 15 or so, who were looking down over the stone walls of the bridge. They were gazing into the river and they were not speaking or smiling.

They were not dressed as hikers or other vacationers. They wore nice clothes; the women were in dresses and the men in sports coats. A girl of about 20 — a beautiful girl — turned from the wall and walked toward us. She was crying. She had turned from the wall in distress. Read More »

READ more about this medieval English carol at A Clerk of Oxford.

There Is No Rose of Such Virtue

1. There is no rose of such virtue
As is the rose that bare Jesu;
Alleluia.

2. For in this rose contained was
Heaven and earth in little space;
Res miranda.

3. By that rose we may well see
That he is God in persons three,
Pari forma.

4. The angels sungen the shepherds to:
Gloria in excelsis deo:
Gaudeamus.

5. Leave we all this worldly mirth,
And follow we this joyful birth;
Transeamus.

6. Alleluia, res miranda,
Pares forma, gaudeamus,
Transeamus.

Brandon

SALLY writes:

I was deeply touched by the story concerning Meredith. Your succinct summing up of the value of a life struck a deep chord in me. I am referring to your statement that,” Now more than ever, there is nothing important Meredith can’t do.” How true!  That one truth reveals the importance of gratefully living the life that God has graciously granted us in spite of all the troubles we experience. The material things we lust after and the status we seek are ultimately unimportant.

My oldest child has a very rare genetic disorder. He is moderately physically and mentally disabled. Unfortunately, his condition is progressive albeit slowly and his prognosis is unclear. Before Brandon
came into my life, I am ashamed to say that I thought disabled people were lacking in some essential ingredient as if the value of a soul can be weigh and measured. Read More »

JIM writes:

I enjoyed the recent post about “Peanuts,” and the reference to Small Is Beautiful by E.F. Schumacher.

I have used one quote from that book many times over the years. It is a favorite, and although it may not be literally true always, it does say a lot. It goes something like this: A man’s leisure time decreases in direct proportion to the number of labor saving devices he owns. A very thoughtful point, but I’m not giving up my chainsaw!!

My donation should head out in tomorrow’s mail.

[UPDATE: My modest fundraising goal has been met! And then some. Thank you very, very much. Additional donations are most welcome.]

MY MODEST FUNDRAISING goal is still not met. I need the equivalent of two Fat Cats*** to donate $25 (or more) to keep this website as is without reverting to a paid subscription system. (You can get a free subscription now through the link on the sidebar and links to new posts will be delivered to you by email.) If you would like to contribute, see the Paypal link below or write to me at thinkinghousewife@msn.com for a mailing address. Donors who would like to give less than $25 are most welcome too! Their contributions will be added to the pot so that we can get this thing done!

Thank you to all who have contributed. I greatly appreciate your support. Tony sent a generous donation and wrote:

Thank you for giving hope to those of us who fight to hold back despair as we make our way through this modern deranged and degenerate culture (if one can even call it a culture).

And thank you!

*** (The use of this term is not meant to demean real feline readers or those who eat too much pizza.)

            

K.H. sends a $10 donation towards my ongoing fundraising drive (we’re getting close!) and writes:

I have been reading your blog since 2011. You have helped me discover and learn about a world of tradition lost to modernity. I no longer subscribe to the false god of secularism.

Thank you for all you’ve written.

Meredith (left) and me last night in the gardens

WHEN I was a newspaper reporter in my twenties, I worked in an office in the Pennsylvania suburbs with another young woman named Meredith.

Meredith was bright, pretty and she was small like me. She was a hard worker and ambitious.

Eventually, I moved to another office and Meredith took a job at another newspaper in North Jersey. We both married and had children. We both left journalism, but while I stayed home, Meredith pursued a new career as a clinical psychologist.

She became very successful in her career. She joined a busy group practice in an affluent area and had many clients. They came to her for advice about all kinds of things. She would sometimes tell me about her conversations with them, without revealing identities. People in this world often have no one to turn to for comfort, advice or wisdom. When once they might have gone to the woman next door, sitting at the kitchen table, or a priest now they pay fantastic sums to go to psychologists.

One of her clients was a woman who had tragically lost a young child in a car accident. Meredith helped her adjust to driving again. She seemed to have many clients with difficulty handling their children. Once she had a boy who was about 11 and who could not adjust to returning home from school to an empty house every day. He was eventually given some kind of hypnosis to help him cope. Once a young couple came to her and asked her if it was okay if they didn’t have any children. Read More »

A COUPLE in Louisiana sent a donation last night and wrote:

This is a donation from George and Lily, who met through your site in 2014. We were married in May 2017 and are hoping to have children soon! We hope that if we have a girl, we can name her after you! Have a blessed day! Read More »

IF YOU offer your hand, she will take it.

You are the child you always were.

She is the mother she always was.

CATHOLICS who reject the papacy of “Pope” Francis and his Vatican II predecessors, as well as the new forms of worship, don’t just exist in Europe and America. Though small in numbers, they are all over the world.

In these fascinating videos, courtesy of True Restoration, (here and here), Nigerians explain how they arrived at their position and their efforts to convert others in their country.

FRANK sends a second donation and writes:

The truth is heard and needed even in the godless Germany I live in.

There are still some Germans who love the truth.

Young Woman, Jean-Pierre de Saint-Ours (1752-1809)

GWEN sends a donation and writes:

You are an encouraging and confident voice to me, a stay-at-home mother of faith. You have filled a void left by my mother, a feminist. I am forever grateful.

I am emboldened to continue pursuing a life of feminine grace and virtue.

NITIDA STELLA (Transl. Clear Star)

Clear star,
happy girl,
you are the flower of flowers;
O Blessed Mother,
Virgin Mary,
Pray for us! Read More »