Jesus on Housework

I have a few books I keep on hand for short bursts of reading.  The one I'm focusing on today is called The Two Witnesses and is a collection of excerpts from a larger work titled True Life in God.  Both works were written by a purported visionary by the name of Vassula Ryden.  

Again, as with all things mystic, keep your eyes on the Holy Spirit and ask His guidance.  I am neither supporting nor denying her claims.  I haven't even gotten halfway through the book yet.  So please exercise prudence.

That being said, I came across something that made me laugh a few days ago.  It's been rattling around in my head ever since, so I'd like to share it with you.

When Vassula writes, she tends to go back and forth between her conversation with Christ (or His mother) and her conversation with those she's praying with (which technically extends to readership).  This particular excerpt prefaces the particular "Message" Christ supposedly had Vassula write down, and even though she writes it as a preface, the reaction from Christ takes place AFTER He dictated the message.

The excerpt:

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Yesterday I was... under the Lord's dictation... and in the end I asked Jesus, "Jesus, shall we go now and do some other work?"  (I had in mind to start cleaning the kitchen.)  And Jesus, without the slightest hesitation said, "Then let us go!"  He sounded very eager to have me up and start cleaning the kitchen.  He behaved as though I had to do a very important and urgent work."

I chuckled when I read that.  In all of the excerpts, Jesus is talking about very important matters like God's Love for His children, how wayward we've become and how vital it is that we reflect upon how little we love one another, but when the floors need scrubbing, the floors need scrubbing.  

It reminded me of a quote I found on a fellow blogger's page that also made me chuckle when I first read it a few years ago.  Hat tip to Katherine of Having Left the Altar for this namesake gem:

"A married woman must often leave God at the altar to find Him
in her household care."  -Saint Frances of Rome

I remember laughing when I'd read that upon stumbling over to her blog.  I think that's why I kept reading.  The idea that God could be found in the mundane - maybe ESPECIALLY in the mundane - it was something that amused me.  

I guess it still does.

And yet I believe it.  I fully believe that God sees the work of looking after our homes and families to be of importance.  Each washed dish and tucked away toy is an act of love.  Each sweep of the floor and every stir of the pot is another syllable of a mother's ongoing ode of love to her family.

God doesn't see the scrubbing of floors as a banal act of drudgery.  If done with a happy heart, He accepts it as the gift of love it is.  All we do is a gift of love if we allow it to be.

A Poor Clare nun sweeping the hall.