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A Catholic stay-at-home wife and mother who is learning to value the beauty of homemaking by preparing meals from scratch with real food according to traditional principles, sewing/altering her own clothes, DIY decor projects, and reading books in her spare time, but most of all trying to be the virtuous woman from Proverbs 31.

Friday, October 18, 2013

The Work of God

"It's not necessary for woman to 'contribute' to the world of work. The world of work exists to be sure she has what she needs for her family." -Rebecca Ryskind Teti from 'Style, Sex and Substance: 10 Catholic Women Consider the Things that Really Matter'.

I had been reading the book quoted above and was struck by this rather obvious statement when one considers history. In society today, we have lost sight of women's roles throughout history, which mainly involved taking care of family and the upkeep and management of a household. 'Kristin Lavransdatter' by Sigrid Undset comes to mind. It is the story of a strong willed, faith filled woman in Medieval Norway who marries for love/passion, manages a large estate, and has eight sons. I highly recommend it, particularly for wives and mothers of faith.

Anyway, nowadays, women feel guilty when not 'contributing' to society by entering the workforce. However, as C.S. Lewis put it, "Homemaking is surely in reality the most important work in the world. What do ships, railways, mines, cars, government, etc. exist for except that people may be fed, warmed, and safe in their own homes? ... The  homemaker's job is one for which all others exist." And I might add that by raising loving, responsible human beings to take their place in society, we are impacting society more than anyone else could in their work, no matter how important their work may be. However, all work is important and meaningful, if done for God, as a means of sanctification. (Plug for Opus Dei/St. Josemaria Escriva.

God bless you in your work of homemaking, ladies! It is an indispensable task and vocation to which God calls us!

PS- If you wish to purchase either of the books I mentioned in this post, see the Amazon widget to the right of this posting.

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