I was recently moved by a passage in Fr. Jacques Philippe's powerful book Thirsting for Prayer in which he likens an excerpt of the early 20th-century Polish mystic and nun St. Faustina Kowalska's spiritual diary to Moses' "holy haggling" in the Bible (Exodus 32: 11-14), where Moses approaches God confidently and persistently, begging him to have mercy on the Israelites.
The passage caught my eye because St. Faustina was chatting with Jesus while crocheting a sweater. And while crocheting is a talent I've tried but failed countless times to master, the spiritual angle of the sentiment has a broader application to any menial task. I keep thinking about it especially as I wash dishes, fold laundry, and take out the trash. The excerpt is from St. Faustina's diary Divine Mercy in My Soul and is copied in its entirety below:
This morning after completing my spiritual exercises, I began at once to crochet. I sensed a stillness in my heart; I sensed that Jesus was resting in it. That deep and sweet consciousness of God's presence prompted me to say to the Lord …
"O Most Holy Trinity dwelling in my heart, I beg You: grant the grace of conversion to as many souls as the number of stitches that I will make today with this crochet hook."
Then I heard these words in my soul: "My daughter, too great are your demands."
"Jesus, you know that for You it is easier to grant much rather than little."
That is so, [Jesus replied] it is less difficult for Me to grant a soul much rather than a little, but every conversion of a sinful soul demands sacrifice.
"Well, Jesus, I offer You this whole-hearted work of mine; this offering does not seem to me to be too small for such a large number of souls; You know, Jesus, that for thirty years You were saving souls by just this kind of work. And since holy obedience forbids me to perform great penances and mortifications, therefore I ask You, Lord: accept these mere nothings, stamped with the seal of obedience, as great things."
Then I heard a voice in my soul: "My dear daughter, I comply with your request."
St. Faustina Kowalska is best known for her vision of Jesus in which two large rays -- one red, symbolizing blood, and the other white, symbolizing water -- are flowing from Jesus' side. She spread this vision and image of "Divine Mercy," its inscription and message: Jesus, I trust in you.
I often play a recording of the Divine Mercy Chaplet, singing and praying along when I cook and clean. Lately, it's been a joy to place each washed dish, fork, and spoon on my drying rack. I'll set down a damp bowl and lift up a cousin in prayer. I'll scrub a frying pan and ask that this tiny sacrifice merit graces for a nephew's ongoing conversion. With each fork and spoon, I'll picture the faces of strangers I chatted with at the grocery store that morning and imagine Jesus' mercies flowing into their souls; it's a habit that's certainly given new meaning to housework!
Not only do I seek St. Faustina's intercession while offering up each washed dish for the salvation of a specific soul, but I also ask a few other saints to pray with me. St. Martin de Porres, a 16th-century Dominican lay brother well known for his devotion to the poor, once famously said: “Everything, even sweeping, scraping vegetables, weeding a garden, and waiting on the sick, could be a prayer, if it were offered to God.”
Centuries later, St. Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei, echoed the sentiment: "Add a supernatural motive to your ordinary professional work and you will have sanctified it" (The Way #359, Scepter Press).
In the Bible's Book of James, we clearly see there are many things we do not have simply because we haven't asked for them: "You have not because you ask not" (James 4:2). And in the Gospel of St. Mark, verse 9:29, Jesus makes it clear that there are certain things done with the power that comes when we "fast and pray."
It's a relief to know that as a busy parent, prayer doesn't have to always look like it does in the movies -- kneeling alone in a silent church with folded hands. Rather, a busy life provides countless opportunities to offer up in my flesh "what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body" (cf Colossians 1:24).
-- St. Faustina Kowalska, pray for us!
-- St. Martin de Porres, pray for us!
-- St. Josemaria Escriva, pray for us!
Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet with us below:
