Oh how happy I am to think of St. Thérèse today. This beloved saint teaches us how to reach Heaven through small and simple ways. Several years ago, I came across an anecdote describing a common activity in all our lives, including inside a monastery — doing the laundry.
Once, when Thérèse was washing dirty laundry, another sister kept unknowingly splashing her with dirty water. St. Thérèse described how she was tempted to step back and wipe the water from her face as a signal to that sister that she was being splashed, but instead she remembered to offer this mortification as a sacrifice to God. St. Thérèse said:
Why be foolish enough to refuse treasures offered so generously? I took care to hide my exasperation. I tried hard to enjoy being splashed with dirty water, and by the end of half an hour, I had acquired a real taste for this novel form of aspersion. How fortunate to find this spot where such treasures were being given away! I would come back as often as I could.
Now, that’s a real lesson. How many times do we get easily frustrated and often lash out when someone, unknowingly, does something that annoys or bothers us? I don’t know about you, but I Good morning! too quick to jump, step back and make certain the offending party is aware of my annoyance. Naturally, the other person apologizes profusely but I still walk away feeling offended.
Another aspect of this narration is that God sends us opportunties to show joyful charity in the most mundane activities of our lives. Until I read this story, it hadn’t truly occured to me that even our greatest saints had to do laundry and they reached Heaven by fulfilling menial duties with love and joy.
Doing laundry during St. Thérèse’s life in Carmel was no easy task. The sisters did not have a washing machine nor running water. In 1938, an electric pump was installed in the laundry room and thus reduced the good sisters’ hard labor. Doing the community laundry included soaking, washing, rinsing, drip-drying, and stretching the wet laundry. Even though laundry was hard work, the sisters found ways to make the day happy as described here.
I ask St. Thérèse to pray for us so that we may accept and not reject those moments to offer a small sacrifice to God. May we see those times as treasures and not annoyances.
Images via: Archivesducarmedelisieux.fr