Teaching · The Foundations
The Lord walks among the pots and pans
Holiness does not wait for the work to end: it lives inside it.
“When obedience sends you to outward things, understand that, if it is in the kitchen, the Lord walks among the pots and pans, helping you within and without.”
Saint Teresa of Jesus — The Book of the Foundations, ch. 5
To understand
God in the ordinary
Saint Teresa writes this to nuns who complained that work took time away from prayer. Her answer is luminous: God is not only in the chapel. He walks among the pots, in the kitchen, in each day's work.
It is one of her best-loved teachings for busy people: ordinary life — cooking, working, caring, serving — is not an obstacle to finding God. It is a meeting place, when it is done with love and facing Him.
The source
The Foundations, chapter 5
Begun in 1573, this book tells the story of the convents the Saint founded across Spain. Chapter 5 deals with obedience and work — and how outward things do not separate from God the one who loves.
Another word of hers
“The love of God does not consist in tears, nor in these delights and tenderness, but in serving with justice, with fortitude of soul, and with humility.”
Saint Teresa of Jesus — The Book of Her Life, ch. 11
To pray and to teach
How to bring this teaching into prayer
This is how we use it in the prayer group; it works just as well for praying alone or as a family.
1
Read slowly
Read the text twice, aloud, without hurry. The second time, slower than the first.
2
Keep silence
A moment of silence. Let one word or phrase stay with each person.
3
Talk through the questions
Share unhurriedly and without debate: nothing is argued here — we share what God is showing us.
4
End with a resolution
Each person names one concrete step for the week, and you close with a prayer.
Questions to talk about
- What is “my kitchen” — the ordinary work where I find it hard to see God?
- What would change if I did today's task “facing Him”?
- Whom do I serve with my work, even when I cannot see them?
For daily life
Three ways to practice it this week
1
Choose the most routine task of your day and offer it to God before beginning it.
2
Place a small sign at your workplace to remind you: here too the Lord walks.
3
At the end of the day, name where you found God while working — even if it was in the kitchen.