Can your laundry room become a sacred space that helps you feel closer to God? You bet, according to the presenters of a workshop at St. Dominic Parish July 17 aimed at helping Catholics convert “places of frustration into places of solace.
“Ways of Prayer: Creating Sacred Spaces in Your Home” was the first presentation in a new Tuesday night summer series on prayer coordinated by the parish’s Spiritual Life Commission. Later workshops will look at the rosary, the Liturgy of the Hours, adoration prayer, contemplative prayer and even prayer expressed through art, music and dance.
“How do we transfer wherever we are, at home, at work, our car or this room and transform it into a sacred space where we are aware of the presence of God?” said commission chair Dan Wandress in introducing co–presenters Kathy Folan and Elizabeth Skelton.
Folan retold a story shared by Lisa Hendy, founding editor of CatholicMom.com who found doing laundry purgatorial. Obvious reasons for disliking doing laundry combined with less obvious ones, including a mother who was overly picky in the management of the family laundry.
“One day she (Hendy) was inspired to take a crucifix in her laundry room,” said Folan. She added pictures of Mary including one of her happily hanging laundry while a haloed baby Jesus played at her feet. Hendy kept adding to the walls of the laundry room until it became her favorite place in the house.
“Lisa said it became a place where she could offer the sacrifice of doing the laundry to Jesus, unite with his sufferings and be in a place with silence and solitude and conversation with God,” Folan said.
Folan underscored her presentation which included personal images of sacred spaces she has curated in her own home and those of her friends with a quote from St. Teresa of Avila:
“Don’t think that if you had a great deal of time you would spend more of it in prayer. Get rid of that idea. God gives more in a moment than in a long period of time, for his actions are not measured by time at all. Know that even when you are in the kitchen, our Lord is moving among the pots and pans.”
Full story at Catholic San Francisco.
I would suggest caution in creating a sacred space in one’s automobile. Otherwise one may need human help from emergency responders as well as Divine help.
Mike m, It all depends. I keep rosaries, Jesus Prayer ropes, prayer books and an icon in compartments of my car. I often park in a shopping mall or near a park where I sit, some times with a soft drink, and have my “quiet times” A pocket radio is in my car to listen to Immaculate Heart Radio and other stations.
It is not a good idea to say the Rosary in traffic as meditating while driving can be dangerous, but saying the Jesus Prayer with the rope seems to be no problem and keeps the mouth clean in traffic .I say the Rosary while walking in the park.
One does not need the prayer rope to say the Jesus Prayer,. It can also be said on a Rosary or without any prayer beads.. One can just repeat the prayer as long as it does not interfere with ones driving. There are several versions on line. Two being “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me” or “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me a sinner”.