St. Therese and homemaking

"Later, at fourteen, after her "conversion" (as she called it), she thought of religious life chiefly as a means of saving souls. For this reason she toyed with the idea of joining a congregation of missionary sisters, but the hope of saving more souls through mortification and self-sacrifice made her decide to shut herself up in Carmel. She told me the reason for this decision herself: it was to suffer more, and in that way win more souls to Jesus. She considered it harder for human nature to work without ever seeing the fruit of one's labors, to toil on without encouragement or any kind of relief. She said the hardest work of all was to work on oneself in order to gain self-mastery. So it was this living death, which was more lucrative in souls won, that she decided to embrace, wishing, as she said herself, "to become a prisoner as soon as possible, in order to bring people the beauties of heaven."
~Sister Genevieve of St. Theresa and of the Holy Face, O.C.D (Celine Martin), quoted in "St. Therese of Lisieux by those who knew her- Testimonies from the process of beautification"


The Church has taught us that St. Therese's "little way" is imitiable by all the faithful, in all vocations. I think it has a special call for those of us who are homemakers. Our day is filled full of the little sacrifices that St. Therese offered up to Our Lord to show her love and to save souls- the interruption of a child when we're doing something, a broken night's sleep, the repetitive housework tasks, and all the little things that go into making up a homemaker's day.

I read this passage above a few days ago when re-reading one of my favorite reads, "St. Therese by those who knew her".

As a homemaker, you rarely get rewards, at least the immediate gratification rewards and encouragement that the world values. At best, your vocation is viewed by most as "a nice option", many are indifferent, and many are actively hostile. There is no paycheck, no vacation time, no true days off, and the floor will need vaccumed again probably 30 minutes after you finished.

That is not to say there are not many rewards, and not daily encouragement for those who know where to seek it- just like there is in any vocation. But the further our society goes from the Catholic ideal, the more "hermit-like" you can find yourself being out of necessity. I know the larger our family has got, the less we find pleasure in the "typical" forms of entertainment. You move away from more artifical stuff and find yourself embracing more of what really refreshes the soul- good times with friends, the simple pleasures of a quiet (quiet being a relative term) evening and a book, some special time with your husband just snuggling- and less of the malls and concerts and movies and all the other things that seem to make and break our society. Something about the whole process of becoming closer to God, about trying to really live a Catholic family makes all the usual entertainments seem like cotton candy when you were hoping for a good meal. And in that sense, the home and the cloister have a lot in common.

"She said the hardest work of all was to work on oneself in order to gain self-mastery". When you are a mother, a wife, a homeschooler, a housekeeper, and the various other tasks a homemaker takes on, as well as your own spiritual life and walk, you better gain self-mastery, or you will be living in misery and chaos! More and more, I find books and sermons talking about fighting a battle, conquring your vices, avoiding temptation, and mortification more and more relevant, because I am fighting a battle every day. My daily tasks make it extremely evident how far I am from sanctity.

St. Therese said why she willingly chose the cloister instead of a more active order- "it was more lucrative for souls won". She was to go on to be declared, along with St. Francis Xavier, the patron saint of missionaries. The home, too, can be more lucrative for souls won. Sometimes people who have embraced feminist ideals and are trying to combine them with Christianity tell women "What about our duty to be light adn salt to the world?" "What about outside apostolates?" "What about evangelization?" There are many misconceptions and errors in this thinking, but one of the biggest ones, if not the biggest one, is teh concept that the hidden life cannot win souls.

A mother cannot go preach the Gospel to distant lands or teach theology in a seminary. But she can preach the Gospel to her little ones around the breakfast table. She can teach theology to the homeschooled First Communicant or the teen trying to discern a vocation. She can offer up the "flowers" that St. Therese offered to our Lord, the "nothings" of the hidden life, of the sacrifices that come when you set yourself to work on self-mastery both for your sanctification and the sanctification of your family. "To please God and to save sinners"- starting with ourselves!