St. Catherine of Siena was a holy woman who dedicated her life to God, giving everything she had to him.
While it might seem that her style of holiness is unreachable, she in fact used many ordinary activities to draw closer to God.
She turned even the littlest thing, like cooking, into a deep and intense prayer to her Heavenly Father.
Praying in the kitchen
Typically we think of praying as reciting a set of prayers, such as the Rosary. As a result, if we want to pray in the kitchen, we need to be praying the Rosary, or some other prayer that is already written out.
However, St. Catherine of Siena was able to pray in the kitchen without saying any words at all.
St. Francis de Sales relates what she did in his Introduction to the Devout Life:
I do not doubt but that she “ravished” her Bridegroom’s heart with this eye of contemplation; but I must own that I behold her with no less delight in her father’s kitchen, kindling the fire, turning the spit, baking the bread, cooking the dinner, and doing all the most menial offices in a loving spirit which looked through all things straight to God.
In particular, St. Catherine of Siena thought of her work in the kitchen as if she was in her Heavenly Father's kitchen:
Her meditations would take the shape of imagining that all she prepared for her father was prepared for Our Lord, as by Martha; her mother was a symbol to her of Our Lady, her brothers of the Apostles, and thus she mentally ministered to all the Heavenly Courts, fulfilling her humble ministrations with an exceeding sweetness, because she saw God’s Will in each.
Sometimes we can be annoyed with our family members, who are hungry and wanting to eat now. When we go to make them dinner, we do so in a spirit of duty, rather than in a spirit of love.
If we take St. Catherine of Siena's lead, we can look more favorably upon cooking in the kitchen, seeing it as both an act of service and as a prayer to God.
Everything we do can be offered to our Bridegroom, even cooking mac & cheese for our kids or grandkids.
