The whole “helpmate” idea has been a foreign concept as long as I can remember.
I know hardly any women who think that way, at least from my generation (“GenX”) on down. Many women are not even conscious that they are doing everything possible to prevent themselves from getting where they want to be. They seem to be innocently clueless and honestly confounded as to why they end up with nothing.
One woman acquaintance, who has thrown herself into career with passion and mania, but is not obnoxious or grrrrrl-powery at all, but rather soft-spoken and nice, claimed not long ago that she was “thinking” about starting a family. Thinking about it. In her early 40s. She’s gorgeous and possibly thinks that’s all that’s needed. She told me this more than a year ago; she is still without family, and even a boyfriend. I can’t see this ending well. Waiting for all of them to learn on their own is likely not the ticket either.
Modern Americans are drenched in distractions and drunk on diversions.
The endless assault upon the senses in modern life means (among other things) the loss or diminishing of something Americans a hundred years ago had mastered quite well: The ability to concentrate one’s attention, and the understanding of why that is important.
ITEM: In 1915, an executive in the Detroit Cadillac Motor Car Company wrote to an employee to inform him that his salary would be increased. He wrote: “The writer knows that you will appreciate this and he would suggest that the very best way to show your appreciation would be to cut out all unnecessary talk, petty jokes, and story-telling during business hours and keep your mind entirely on company business…. Eliminate all outside influences….”[Reminisce Magazine, May/June 1999, p. 52] Read More »
O GENTLEST Heart of Jesus, ever present in the Blessed Sacrament, ever consumed with burning love for the poor captive souls in Purgatory, have mercy on the souls of Thy servants. Be not severe in Thy judgment, but let some drops of Thy precious Blood fall upon our beloved departed, and do Thou, O merciful Savior, send Thy angels to conduct the souls of Thy servants to a place of refreshment, light and peace. Amen.
May the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
I think of my mother, who died at the age of 86, pretty much every day, but I thought of her more this week, not just because of this significant anniversary but because I have been cleaning out her kitchen. My father died in April and we are now packing up their home.
My mother’s kitchen was a workshop, a laboratory and a command center. She was an energetic, industrious and talented cook. From this kitchen — and the one in our childhood home — she prepared thousands of meals for her seven children, her husband, friends, and relatives. This was no secondary occupation, not simply the setting of a beautiful hobby, it was the center of life. It was reality.
We almost never ate in restaurants and hardly knew what take-out was when we were growing up. Despite the large demands on her kitchen time, my mother cooked for strangers too. She regularly made casseroles for a soup kitchen. Her kitchen was filled with her tools — hundreds of humble objects, many of them now battered and tired-looking, as if they belonged in a history exhibit where implements dug up by archaeologists are displayed to illustrate the course of human history. But they resonated with her personality and memories of the simple and indispensable chores they executed. From the baking sheets to the frying pans to the metal bowls and spatulas and knives, from the casserole dishes to the nut crackers to the potholders and candy thermometers, from the bean pot to the bread plates to the cooling racks to the stand mixer, they all seemed like friends I have known — and extensions of her. Read More »
IN THIS 1988 interview (sorry about the poor quality of the video), Ron Paul explains some of the basic facts about the Federal Reserve — facts that even Congressmen didn’t know.
KIMBERLY HARTKEexplains how meditating on the Book of Genesis changed her life:
This biblical concept of a woman’s role is offensive to modern sensibilities, due to the influence of feminist thought on modern culture. Yet, the role of a woman is her identity, her mission. We have women playing roles in contemporary America. All kinds of roles. The feminists have no objection to this, as long as a woman doesn’t choose the traditional role of wife and mother. Women who choose this role are derided and discounted. Their choice is a direct affront to the feminist agenda. Political feminism strives to erase all differences between men and women. Political feminism is about wresting power from men and advancing women economically through the workforce. We become direct competitors with men, rather than their allies and supporters. It never occurred to me that women can be much better off economically and socially when they invest themselves in the role of wife and mother. The family as an economic partnership is made stronger by clearly defined roles and responsibilities.
But reading and meditating on this verse shed light on my dilemma. Having bought the feminist version of success through career advancement, I realized that I had been pursuing a life independent of men and marriage. Read More »
POPE Pius XII died on October 9, 1958, sixty years ago last week. The Church has gone through its own extraordinary Passion ever since, its thorns and scourgings coming principally from those at the very top who claim to be its valid leaders and yet are not. Pius XII was not, like John Paul II or Francis, a globetrotting celebrity, traveling the world to apologize for and, equipped with all the sophistries of modern philosophy and messianic politics, outright deny the Catholic religion. He was a pope, and the fact that his false successors have left the Church in virtual ruins attests to the supreme importance of the papacy.
See fascinating video clips and some thoughts on the importance of this anniversary at Novus Ordo Watch.
In related news, “Pope” Paul VI, a suspected homosexual who led three of the four sessions of the Second Vatican Council, promulgated the New Mass and oversaw mass departures from seminaries and convents, has just been declared a saint.
Paul VI was one of the most noxious figures in modern history. He cannot possibly be a true saint of the Roman Catholic Church as he was not even Catholic.
His canonization proves that the Vatican II Church is a false Church, in keeping with many prophecies. See Paul VI Beatifiedby Fr. Luigi Villa and “Blessed Paul the Sick” by Dr. Thomas Droleskey, to understand why the “canonization” of this complex figure makes no sense except in the context of false authority. Paul VI betrayed priests behind the Iron Curtain; appeared before the United Nations and spoke rapturously of global peace achieved through secular means, hailing the atheist institution as if it were a universal church; gutted Catholic worship; approved the “natural” means of limiting the size of Catholic families, and promoted, in general, the “cult of man” over self-renunciation and the Way of the Cross. He was a secular humanist, not a saint. According to Randy Engel, author of The Rite of Sodomy, (cited here):
“There can be no question that Pope Paul VI’s homosexuality was instrumental in the paradigm shift that saw the rise of the Homosexual Collective in the Catholic Church in the United States, at the Vatican and around the world in the mid-20th century.
Pope Paul VI played a decisive role in the selection and advancement of many homosexual members of the American hierarchy, including Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, Terence Cardinal Cooke, John Cardinal Wright and Archbishop Rembert Weakland and Bishops George H. Guilfoyle, Francis Mugavero, Joseph Hart, Joseph Ferrario, James Rausch and their heirs.”
It was Paul VI who shaped the Modernist pseudo-Catholic religion and church the way we know it today. He alone promulgated all of the 16 documents of Vatican II; it was he who gave the world the “New Mass” and all of the other new sacramental rites; it was he who pushed through the massive reform of the Roman Curia and abolished the Anti-Modernist Oath and the Index of Forbidden Books. It was under his false pontificate that all the ugliness and absurdity of what most people today associate with Roman Catholicism exploded, especially the barren and odd-looking churches; and it was during his 15-year reign of terror that nuns’ habits were shortened or abandoned altogether, to mention but a few of the many things Paul VI was responsible for.
Just recently, the Vatican’s propaganda department released a new movie on Montini, entitled Paul VI: A Man, A Pope, A Saint, which once again pushes the convenient “Paul VI was an enigma” narrative. No, he was no enigma, he just wanted to destroy Catholicism while retaining a veneer of good will, orthodoxy, and piety, and to this end self-contradiction is very conducive. Paul VI did to Catholicism what no heresiarch before him had been able to accomplish, not even all of them combined.
All of this is sad, shocking and painful. False popes, by these phony canonizations, are being elevated to the level of idols, and decent, misguided people who truly desire to be good Catholics are falling on their knees to venerate them. We are living in apocalyptic times.
Last week my husband and I attended the final Rosary of one of the many 54 day Novenas taking place across our country and the world. Our group of about 40 consisted of both young and old with the young outnumbering us which was very encouraging though bittersweet because of close relatives who have lost the faith. We stood together on a Northeastern coastline, feet planted in the wet sand, surrounded by God’s gifts, reciting His glorious chapters.
A young woman who had brought her dog to the beach was some yards behind us and seemed drawn to what we were doing. Several decades in, I glanced in her direction and she was still there. Just then she prepared to leave and began quietly calling her dog, which had made itself a part of our group. She called and called and it would not go to her even when she came right next to it with her commands. It took a clip of leash to collar and a forceful tug to get the dog to move away from us. I found this very interesting. Read More »
VICTORIA Bissell Brown, a retired history professor, writes in The Washington Post:
I yelled at my husband last night. Not pick-up-your-socks yell. Not how-could-you-ignore-that-red-light yell. This was real yelling. This was 30 minutes of from-the-gut yelling. Triggered by a small, thoughtless, dismissive, annoyed, patronizing comment. Really small. A micro-wave that triggered a hurricane. I blew. Hard and fast. And it terrified me. I’m still terrified by what I felt and what I said. I am almost 70 years old. I am a grandmother. Yet in that roiling moment, screaming at my husband as if he represented every clueless male on the planet (and I every angry woman of 2018), I announced that I hate all men and wish all men were dead. If one of my grandchildren yelled something that ridiculous, I’d have to stifle a laugh.
After catching her breath, she goes on to batter him some more. And then she writes:
The gender war that has broken out in this country is flooding all our houses. It’s rising on the torrent of memories that every woman has. Those memories have come loose from the attic and the basement where we’ve stashed them. They are floating all around us and there is no place left to store them out of sight. Not just memories of sexual abuse. Memories of being dismissed, disdained, distrusted.
Being married to a feminist offers glimpses into the delusions and cruelty that exist in hell. Prof. Brown, I have some news for you. Every single human being is at some point dismissed, disdained and distrusted. But you definitely should have been dismissed, disdained and distrusted more. Much more. Only someone who has not been dismissed, disdained and distrusted enough could possess your level of arrogance.
READERS may be having some trouble accessing this site. Don’t be alarmed. I’m sorry for the confusion, but I’ve been making improvements to security, and there have been some glitches along the way. The site is now parked at thinkinghousewife.com (where it was originally), not at thinkinghousewife.com/wp. So if you have the second address bookmarked or stored in your cache, you may be getting a ‘server error’ message. Make sure the “wp” is not in your search. Also, Google or other search engines should be directing you to the new “https” version of the site, not the “http.” Read More »
“OF ALL the enemies of the true liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.
War is the parent of armies; from those proceed debts and taxes; and armies and debts and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.
In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people.
The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manner and of morals, engendered in both. No nation can preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.”
— James Madison, Political Observations, Apr. 20, 1795 in: Letters and Other Writings of James Madison, vol. 4, p. 491 (1865)
Mary Magdalen Reading, Unknown artist, (1525-1550)
There is a kind of work which any man can do, but from which many men shrink, generally because it is very hard work, sometimes because they fear it will lead them whither they do not wish to go. It is called thinking.
— G.K. Chesterton
[Google is still not processing the new secure version of this site. Make sure you use this version so you get the right appearance.]
FOR NINE months, Monika Schaefer, a peaceful, nature-loving Canadian violinist from Alberta, has been in prison in Germany.
Her crime? Making this video. She has done nothing else. She has not called for harm or retribution toward anyone. The very idea that this mild-mannered woman who volunteers to play violin in nursing homes and schools would promote hatred or violence is patently ridiculous. And for this she is in the hands of the world’s most powerful bullies and is portrayed in the Canadian media with dehumanizing rhetoric as a dark, Hitleresque figure. That such a powerless person as this middle-class artist should be arrested and held in a foreign country strongly suggests that what she said is true. As Theodore Fontane, a 19th century German author, said:
The reason people are silenced is not because they lie, but because they tell the truth. When people lie, their own words can be used against them. When they tell the truth, there is no other countermeasure except violence.
Seized in January when she was visiting family in Germany and attending the trial of a lawyer who has defended other activists (thousands of people have been imprisoned or fined in Germany for thought crimes), Schaefer is accused of inciting “hatred.” The clever thing about accusations of hatred is that they can never be conclusively disproven. Hatred is invisible. It lies within the human heart. You can never prove you don’t have it. A society that possesses the vestiges of a Christian sensibility honors charity, making this word an extremely effective weapon. Invert these claims of hatred. In reality, it is those who promote lies about World War II (for financial or political gain) who should be in prison. Read it all in a mirror.
Imagine calling the police and saying, “I’ve just been robbed!!” — and then being thrown in prison by the police for being robbed. The twisted logic of imprisoning those with Monika’s claims is similar. Monika’s brother, Alfred, is also in prison for his Internet videos. Their ongoing trial is a journey into the absurd with the basic principles of international law overturned. Whatever the outcome, they will be crushed.
But please don’t think this is just about the Holocaust. It is not.
That subject is an effective filter for identifying those who are most capable of resistance, those who possess so much honor and integrity that they will risk intense social ostracism and even imprisonment or death to question received wisdom with facts and logic. Honor and integrity are more dangerous than guns.
Schaefer’s imprisonment is ultimately about thought itself — and individuality. We should not be advocates in response of mindless, undiscriminating “free speech.” Only the truth deserves to be disseminated. It is no accident that a powerless, middle class artist is involved. The artist is often the first person to cry out. Beautiful music — Schaefer has obviously devoted herself to beautiful music — instills a love of truth. If she were a musical celebrity, she would have all kinds of interests to protect. But she is not. The middle class has less at stake and it must be crushed intellectually and psychologically because of its natural instincts against tyranny, as the kulaks were crushed under Communism. It is precisely because Schaefer is reasonable, courteous, kind, gentle and non-threatening that she is especially dangerous. The people who are responsible for her imprisonment in Germany, we can surmise, are deeply afraid of these qualities and their inherent persuasive power. They must envy these qualities. We are living in the pages of a dystopian novel. Legions of conservative writers quote George Orwell — but say nothing about a living example of his bleak warnings. Feminists predictably say nothing about outrageous abuse of a woman. Read More »
Trump has given hope to those who were drowning in hopelessness. He has convinced them that he is their political savior. He plays to their wants and fears. He tells them what they want to hear. And he does it so masterfully, so perfectly, that he has brought millions of people (including Christians) under his spell.
For two years now, it hasn’t mattered to a tinker’s dam what Trump does or doesn’t do. He has given people the “illusions of hope,” and they dare not let go. Their hope is in Trump. This is more than support or appreciation—or even love; this is worship. The “always Trump” crowd literally worships Donald Trump. From a spiritual perspective, they have been bewitched. They are hypnotized. They are in a trance. And they dare not allow themselves to be awakened, for if they were, they would have “to know the worst, and to provide for it.” This they are not willing to do. Read More »
