the term housework or housewive has been widly taken out of its context and often compared to the word ‘slave or servant’. today we hear many married women who disagree with the lifestyle and find themselves so invested in other duties for the sake of avoiding being called a ‘slave’. but as someone who has been married for 6 months, I have found the term endearing and don’t find myself as my husbands slave. as someone who despised doing chores and refused to learn how to cook, in my housework I can see the Lord working daily in my heart, gifting me a new underestaning of the term ‘housework’. Elisabeth Elliot once wrote “This job has been given to me to do. Therefore, it is a gift. Therefore, it is a privilege. Therefore, it is an offering I may make to God. Therefore, it is to be done gladly, if it is done for Him. Here, not somewhere else, I may learn God’s way. In this job, not in some other, God looks for faithfulness.” my housework is my duty, it is the promise I made to care for who and for what the Lord has entrusted in me. it is my display of affection, and my display of intimacy. it is my yes over and over again. it is me choosing to wake up and choosing my vows daily, choosing to love God, to love my husband as Christ loves the church. it is me building my foundation.

Fr. Fulton Sheen describes ‘the man is the head, but the woman is the heart’, meaning, this humle home, is a reflection of what is in my heart and so, my brothers and sisters, even when I am exhuasted, in all areas of my life, like this past week, even when things seem out of place.. my home is the work i choose, even when im tired and i’m at the end of the road, when i am at a loss for words in prayers, when i cannot bring myself to pray, to journal to read, i find comfort in my housework. my housework is a prayer, when i cook, i bless and praise the lord for the ability to prepare meals, to bless my husband so he can continue to provide. when i sweep, mop, dust, laundry, change sheets, i bless and praise this home, to be a home full of lvoe and peace for the both of us, may our home be a becaon of support and love for our future children. so when i’m tired and feel confliced, maybe even divided i choose my houesework, my housework as a prayer.

may you today choose your housework, as a source of faith, love and support. may you feel Mary’s embrace as you cook, clean, sweep, dust and mop. may every pile of laundry be a reminder to what it means to love your spouse as Christ loves the church.

with much love,

the mercados.