Housekeeping Monthly, The Good Wife's guide, 13 May 1955, came to Benji in a spam message and he forwarded it to me last night. We laughed about the antiquated ideas, but my dreams were tormented. I fussed and fought with various men all night - husbands, father, fathers-in-law, others. It really riled up the libber in me.

Young women today don't realize how very different their roles as wives are from those of their grandmothers, and what the generation in-between had to go through to throw off much of the male chauvinism that tried to control us. And to think there are men out there today who still want women to be like this! Some Christian preachers still preach it as the Biblical Model! And most Muslims aren't even as advanced as 1955 America in their lifestyles. I'll e-mail it to the women I know so they will have one more thing to be thankful for today.

There's been talk for the last decade or so about the backlash from women's lib. Yes, women have more rights, but they also have more responsibility. As long as the pendulum doesn't swing back to the other extreme, we'll get through it and be stronger for it. Improvements still need to be made. I hope and pray the younger generation is up to the task and that their brothers, fathers, husbands, and sons help them.

Today's devotional from Forward Day by Day:

John 6:53-59. For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.

A professor of religious history, Elaine Pagels, writes in Beyond Belief about returning to the church after decades of absence when her two-year old son was diagnosed with an incurable lung disease. She recognized the need to be there. Here was a place to weep, to sing, to celebrate, to acknowledge common needs, and to deal with what she could not control or imagine. She writes that her defenses fell away, exposing storms of grief and hope. Through that experience, she dared hope that such communion has the potential to transform us.

On a weekly basis, and sometimes more frequently, I participate in a eucharist. There are times when I am deeply moved, there are times when I reflect on the experience during and afterwards, and there are times when I am quietly thankful for the sacrament without having any conscious response or reflection. Pagels’ writing is a powerful articulation of what I experience: celebration, transformation, and mystery.

The Gifts of God for the People of God.

Also Ps 147; Proverbs 9:1-6; Ephesians 5:15-20