• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
  • CR Radio
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe

Washing dishes for Lent

March 4, 2021
By Rita Buettner
Catholic Review
Filed Under: Blog, Commentary, Lent, Open Window

Our dishwasher broke this week. So, we’re washing our dishes by hand.

Normally this might not seem like such a big deal. Many people don’t have dishwashers, and we always wash some of our pots and pans by hand. Somehow during this pandemic time, though, the little crises have this way of looming much larger.

As I stand at the sink scrubbing and rinsing dishes, I remind myself how fortunate we are to have a home, hot running water, food to enjoy, and two children who consume an ongoing stream of meals and snacks. We are blessed to have dirty dishes to wash.

I was thinking that my plan for Lent had been to do less—and now I have another chore to fit into my day. Still, it occurs to me that this is another opportunity to talk and listen to God. He knows that I’m often more attentive when I’m doing something with my hands but when my eyes and ears and mind are open. Maybe He knew that was just what I needed—a task to keep me occupied so I would open myself up to Him.

As I reach for a sponge and turn the water on to begin, I think of the words of St. Teresa of Calcutta: “Wash the plate not because it is dirty or because you are told to wash it, but because you love the person who will use it next.”

So, I think of the people I love, and I keep washing.

I also think about the dishwasher itself. We haven’t even had it two years. But those have been some difficult years to be a dishwasher—at least around here.

I can’t believe the number of dishes we use during a typical day. We’re home almost all the time, and we have boys who are growing faster than a pile of dirty dishes on a busy school/workday. Thanks to pandemic eating, we have been running the dishwasher two, three, or sometimes even four times a day. No wonder the dishwasher succumbed. We have asked so much of it over the past year.

Then I think of what has been asked—and continues to be asked—of each of us during that time. Maybe, like the dishwasher, we all need a rest. Maybe this is a Lent where we could pause and figure out what is exhausting us. Maybe it’s time to recognize we are doing too much and ask for help. Maybe, if your dishwasher is failing you, it’s time to get some paper plates.

This isn’t how I pictured Lent this year. And that’s OK.

As we walk our Lenten journeys, it can be easy to feel we’ve stumbled and failed in all we took on for Lent. But I try to remind myself that daily life is asking so much of us right now. God loves each of us deeply, and He is walking with us every step of the way. If these days are difficult on their own, without additional sacrifice, maybe we can take comfort in knowing that all God really wants is for us to be close to Him, to open ourselves up to His love, and find rest in Him.

Copyright © 2021 Catholic Review Media

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Rita Buettner

Rita Buettner is a wife, working mother and author of the Catholic Review's Open Window blog. She and her husband adopted their two sons from China, and Rita often writes about topics concerning adoption, family and faith.

Rita also writes The Domestic Church, a featured column in the Catholic Review. Her writing has been honored by the Catholic Press Association, the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association and the Associated Church Press.

View all posts from this author

| Recent Commentary |

Merciful like the Father

What does it taste like?

4 tips for building a media-smart family

Here is the simplest way to share faith with kids

Let good prevail

| Recent Local News |

Annapolis parish marks historic milestone

Sister Alice Klein, O.S.F., dies at 91

RADIO INTERVIEW: Black Catholic Nuns

Ordinary people doing extraordinary things: Archdiocesan Gala to return

Clarksville school shapes educators in faith formation

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Russia poses ‘biggest threat to religious freedom in Ukraine,’ says archbishop
  • Pope, church leaders draw attention to victims of violence
  • Gregory: World needs African Americans’ ‘strength of character’; it ‘resides within the souls of our people’
  • Annapolis parish marks historic milestone
  • Sister Alice Klein, O.S.F., dies at 91
  • Pope saddened by ‘huge loss of life’ after earthquakes in Turkey and Syria
  • RADIO INTERVIEW: Black Catholic Nuns
  • Catholic lawmaker calls for ‘frank and sober’ security conversation after Chinese balloon shot down
  • Arms trade is a ‘plague,’ pope says on flight back from Africa

Search

Membership

Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2023 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED