Small acts, great love: Sanctifying your homemaking with Mother Teresa

While in college at Ave Maria University, I had the privilege of participating in the Mother Teresa Project. As a Mother Teresa Scholar, we would volunteer for regular service projects, learn about Mother Teresa’s life and spirituality, and go on mission trips with the Missionaries of Charity. Little did I know that the spring break week spent living and working alongside the Missionaries of Charity would provide the spiritual foundation that I could later draw upon as a stay-at-home mother. Missionary work, the act of spreading the Good News of the Gospel, is not limited to the streets of Calcutta. Mother Teresa’s invitation to “find your Calcutta” is an invitation to serve Christ wherever he has called you. 

“Peace begins with a smile.”

When you are getting dressed and ready for your day, remember that the most important thing you put on is your smile. As you brush your teeth or apply makeup, ask Jesus to shine through you during your day so that you may look on others with the face of Christ. Whether or not you leave the house that day, you are still a witness of God’s love to the members of your family!

“If you are too busy to pray…you are too busy!”

Life with small children can make it challenging to find pockets of time for individual prayer. Nonetheless, having prayer time each day is essential. For Mother Teresa, prayer was the non-negotiable foundation for her service. Even when going through her “dark night of the soul,” Mother Teresa remained faithful to prayer. As a homemaker, you may have to rethink what fruitful prayer looks like in different seasons of life, but a prayer routine is still a must.

“Wash the plate. Not because it was dirty, nor because you were told to do so, but because you love the person who will use it next.”

Household chores can easily become an empty monotony of checklist tasks. Mother Teresa offers another way by reminding us that even simple menial tasks can be the occasion for intercessory prayer. As you wash the dishes, or fold the laundry, pray for the members of your family who will use them.

“The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.”

Mother Teresa devoted her life to serving the poorest of the poor. Yet, she firmly believed that the love her sisters were showing to those in need was even more valuable than the material resources that they offered. In a world that is increasingly fragmented and separated, remember that your homemaking is creating a space for gathering and connection. Feeding and clothing your children is about more than physical sustenance, you are giving them the richness of love.

“I thirst…”

Written on the wall of every Missionaries of Charity chapel, next to the crucifix, is the simple phrase, “I Thirst.” Mother Teresa saw these words of Jesus on the cross as an expression of more than physical thirst, but rather as a thirst for souls. This thirst is for every soul in your community, your family, and even for you. This burning love for souls that Mother Teresa describes in the “I thirst” prayer is visually depicted in the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Consider dedicating your home to the Sacred Heart, placing the line “I thirst” under your home crucifix, and inviting Jesus to show you how your homemaking and vocation can satiate His thirst for souls.