31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best book I've found on this topic, November 1, 2004
This review is from: Holiness for Housewives: And Other Working Women (Paperback)
I admit that this book wasn't what I was expecting when I first came across it. But it has turned out to be the richest and wisest book on the vocation of wife and mother that I have read. A mere 63 pages of text, it is not written in a light, chatty style with "dust jacket sound bites" but rather as an experienced spiritual director speaks to a soul, with directness, depth, and understanding. And it's not to be read in one sitting, but each section taken a little at a time to meditate upon and internalize.
It is divided into three sections:
1) Your special vocation as a housewife
2) How to pray amidst your daily duties
3) How to grow holier day by day
and each are further divided into subsections such as "Don't be misled by a false notion of holiness," "Learn the two ways to pray and work," and "Beware of the temptation to run away." Though there are no personal stories such as one might find in a woman's or parenting magazine to chuckle over and say "Oh, yeah I've been in that situation," each topic goes to the deepest parts of what marriage is - a vocation, one's personal way to holiness - and how to let this vocation be one's means of sanctification in a practical way (such as how to respond to the constant interruptions and ruined plans). It helps to give a picture of what holiness truly is instead of some false image of praying in a quiet chapel all day, and practically how to advance in this particular path of sanctification.
I think a some misunderstandings in a previous review do need a response briefly. First, when speaking of religion as consolation, he is warning not to let that be the sole substance of what religion is to a soul. He warns that it not fall into the trap of being either an contrived emotional experience to just along in life, or the other side which is just a dry, routine practice without spiritual depth. Second, a more careful reading would show that after saying one must obey a superior, only two sentences later he states that, "No superior, no husband, can command you to do what is wrong." He certainly isn't advocating blind obedience to go along with something immoral (clear if one reads the text), but rather how obedience, even when it seems unreasonable (NOT immoral) to us, to God, His Church, and even our husbands on occasion (!), can be acts of love and even liberty.
I wish every parish had a spiritual director with as much wisdom as van Zeller.
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32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Practical Prayer for Practical Moms, April 12, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Holiness for Housewives: And Other Working Women (Paperback)
Wow! Holiness for Housewives offers genuine, understandable, and practical guidance for mothers! This is a helpful--and hopeful-- book for women who wish to grow their spirituality within the context of their daily routine. Van Zeller truly edifies the day-to-day tasks of stay-at-home moms and offers very specific ways that these tasks can lead one to a deeper relationship with God. Rather than trying to deepen one's spirituality IN SPITE OF the daily chores and child-care duties, he discuses how one might offer the busyness of the day as a prayer in and of itself. He calls this "practicing the presence of God." This process places incredibe value on both one's personal realtionship with God and on mothering. I've often thought of these two endeavors as somewhat mutually exclusive--or at least as competitors. But Van Zeller provides a method in which they can fit together in a way which enriches them both.
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25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A wonderful spiritual resource for women (and I'm a man!), August 22, 2000
This review is from: Holiness for Housewives: And Other Working Women (Paperback)
What can a man offer about a book for women? Well, as a husband who does his fair share of cleaning and dishes and child-rearing I can tell you that not only has my wife benefitted from this book, but so have I.
I have benefitted in that not only is my wife a more content mother because of the advice offered, but I am a better father.
I'm better because she is more content, and I am better because the book's advice and prayers are beneficial to housewives and househusbands weary from the drudgery of daily housework.
The author demonstrates that housework and childcare can be a path to holiness. Finding the spiritual and the sacredness in our everyday tasks can make us Saints.
I highly recommend this book, for both housewives and their husbands. It is a short, easy read. The very practical and honest prayers at the end of the book are alone worth the price of the book.
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