BOOK REVIEWS

Basic Guides for Personal Sanctity

by Dolores O’Connell, R.N., D.N.Sc.

Holiness for Housewives
(And Other Working Women)
by Dom Hubert Van Zeller
Sophia Institute Press
97 pp.
1-800-888-9344

Holiness: A Guide for Beginners
by Dom Hubert Van Zeller
Sophia Institute Press
100 pp.
1-800-888-9344

    Dom Hubert Van Zeller, a twentieth century Benedictine priest, was a prolific spiritual writer. Sophia Institute Press has republished two of his books that are brief enough for a busy person to finish, yet deeply rich in spiritual concepts.
    Holiness for Housewives (And Other Working Women), formerly entitled Praying While You Work, was originally written in 1951. This book is for wives, mothers, and other women: “souls who are anchored in their God-given vocation, and who, nevertheless, are conscious of their parallel vocation to the interior life.” Van Zeller has a helpful way introducing each of his suggestions with a deep spiritual foundation plus a practical example.
    The acceptance of your state in life as a housewife is one of the first attitude adjustments to make on the road to holiness. To be present to the situation at hand means to let go of the glory days of the past and to stop day dreaming of the better days to come in the future. For to achieve holiness, Van Zeller tells women to focus on being true to your current state in life for that is God’s will for you to reach heaven. He states: “The first necessity is to find in your soul a respect for your vocation.”
    Van Zeller gives advice on ways to pray throughout the day, being mindful of one’s valuable possession of time. “You can either pray your way into your working day or you can work you way into prayer,” he says. For some women it will mean to start the day earlier whereas for others it is helpful to use ordinary reminders throughout the day, such as the striking of the clock at each hour or before every phone call to make quick, prayerful aspirations. Regardless, Van Zeller tells us to be focused with our prayers, “not simple as in half-baked.”
    Extremes in behavior due to faulty thinking are to be avoided because they cause more harm than good to yourself and your responsibilities. We should not seek holiness for personal convenience nor as a mere duty. Rather, Van Zeller tells us to “seek tranquility in God’s presence, to be direct in your prayers, and to pray as God wants you to pray now.” He also addresses the virtues of faithfulness, obedience, and voluntary poverty as means to reach perfection in the married state of life.
    Van Zeller emphasizes that each woman should develop her own style of prayer so that she can be good to her family and holy like Christ. After our duties are finished, he said our use of leisure time is better spent in spiritual reading, meditation, or working for the apostolate than in the pursuit of frivolous pleasures. He says one has to be willing to take the time to pray, to adjust one’s life as situations change, and to respond to the graces God sends us.
    Van Zeller emphasizes that God will give us as much time as we need to pray in order to reach sanctity. Because we can become too busy with activities, we should even “resolve to pray when you have excellent excuses not to pray.” This book concludes with a chapter of prayers to begin and end the day with as well as for special situations, e.g., “Prayer before having a baby,” “Prayer when exhausted by housework,” and “Prayer before dealing with a difficult person.”
    In 1963, Van Zeller wrote a more general book on holiness entitled Sanctity in Other Words, which Sophia retitled as Holiness: A Guide for Beginners. He begins by addressing the underlying premise that our call to sanctity is to become like Christ. Though we are to admire the saints for their holiness, we will reach our goal more quickly and completely if we know Him and He enters us.
    Everything that we do during the day can give glory to God. Van Zeller states: “The ordinariness of the actual job is raised so that it shares in the obedience of Christ.” He goes on to explain that we will see the presence of God in all things in our lives which changes our attitude and our actions.
    Van Zeller’s writing style is straightforward as always in this book as he tells us that humility will come quickly and often to keep nudging us back onto the right track. While we strive with our resolutions and good intentions, God’s will is to dominate our journey and we must open ourselves to those graces He sends us.
    All things can work for our sanctity, even other people or things that may or may not be to our liking. Van Zeller points out that “Whatever is done in the way of charity to neighbors, whatever is endured in the way of mortification, whatever is taken in one’s stride in the way of either work or pleasure is directed toward our Lord and united with His own action while He lived here on earth.” God has the plan, and we are to follow Him completely.
    Three chapters of the book are a discussion of the perfection of the theological virtues. Faith tells us that we have the capacity to reach holiness, if we cooperate interiorly with the graces in our state of life without public fanfare. Van Zeller says, “The perfection of faith is asked for; it is not mechanically extracted... It all has to be willed, deliberately undertaken, and developed.”
    Van Zeller notes that the virtue of hope teaches us that things will fall into place even in this world, and the promise that we will be happy with our Lord in the next world. When we realize that “the whole of life lies in the hollow of God’s hand,” we have confidence in God.
    Van Zeller says that holiness relies mostly on charity for it transforms us personally to be more like Christ. He warns us that “charity is just as difficult to practice toward good people as toward bad ones.”
    This book makes it clear that “God wants you to be holy, gives you the grace to be holy, and does not listen to your objections about not wanting to be holier than anyone else.” Van Zeller points out that the seal of holiness is usually seen in the quiet, humble virtues of a person who is well balanced and cheerful. He concludes by noting that true happiness in this life is our reward on earth whereas God’s infinite love (and perfect happiness) will be forever with us in the next life.
    Both books are true gems that are of great help in our personal journey toward holiness. While the first book is full of practical examples for housewives, the second one has a broader appeal for all readers in pursuit of holiness.

Dolores O’Connell is a wife, mother, and nurse. She is also on the Board of Advisors for The Catholic Faith magazine.

© 1997 Inter Mirifica

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