St. Clare of Assisi
   Daughter of Hope  

As we prepare for this year’s solemn novena in honor of our Mother St. Clare (August 2 – 10),
we wanted to share a preview of the topics we will be reflecting on each evening.
May our Seraphic Mother, that woman brimming with great hope, help all of us to live in joyful hope,
with our hearts focused on the Great Hope which does not disappoint.

The First Day
God has given us a Living Hope
          The Christian life is not only “informative” but “performative.” The Gospel is not merely a communication of things that can be known – it is one that makes things happen and is life-changing. (2)  How many things happened in the life of St. Clare because of the living hope God gave her.  For Clare, it was clear that although man experiences greater or lesser hopes…only something infinite will suffice for him. (30)  That “something” is God to whom Clare surrendered her life with utter trust.  Thus from the hope of her who had been touched by Christ, hope arose for others who were living in darkness and without hope. (8) 

The Second Day

The Great Hope - Our Call

     What is the secret of the Great Hope to which we are called?  There is a Lord who is good, goodness in Person – (by Him) we are known, loved and awaited. (3)  Once St. Clare came to know Him, her life changed: Ever since I came to know the grace of my Lord Jesus Christ through His servant Francis, no suffering has troubled me, no penance has been hard, no sickness too arduous.  This encounter with the Great Hope enables each person to say: “I am definitively loved…. And so my life is good.” This is … the hope that redeems. (3)

The Third Day

 Our Hope of Glory

     The love of Jesus, crucified and glorified, helped St. Clare to live a life based on the certainty of hope. (9)  She, the passionate lover of the Crucified, was also an ardent imitator of the Risen Lord.  And this meant that Clare lived not for herself alone but for all those for whom Christ died and rose. Hope means that we can open ourselves and allow God to enter: we can open ourselves to truth, to love, to what is good.  This is what the saints did, those who as “God’s fellow workers,”
contributed to the world’s salvation. (35)

The Fourth Day
I Hope in Your Word!
Hope prepares us to trust in and live by God’s revealed Word.  God is the foundation of hope: the God who has a human face and who has loved us to the end, each one of us and humanity in its entirety. (31)  Once St. Clare caught a glimpse of this Divine Face, she could take God at His Word when He said: Ask, and you shall receive; when He proclaimed: You shall receive a hundredfold; and when He assured her: I will always take care of you.

The Fifth Day
  Rejoice in Hope!
Because St. Clare was a woman of hope, she was a woman of joy.  Those who lived with her testified to this: The Holy Mother was always joyful.  Hope kept her from discouragement, sustained her during times of abandonment, preserved her from selfishness and led her to the happiness which flows from charity. (cf. CATECHISM #1818)  Even in suffering, Clare’s joy did not diminish, precisely because her great, true hope which held firm in spite of all disappointments (was) God – God who has loved us and continues to love us until the end. (27)

The Sixth Day
Pray, and Never Lose Hope
Prayer is the language of hope. (Cardinal J. Ratzinger)  This is the language the Lady Clare spoke best.  Her prayer, flowering from her hope, was deep, intimate, and spousal.  Yet it was also universal.  To pray is not to step outside history and withdraw into our own private corner of happiness….Through the purifications of prayer, we become capable of the Great Hope, and thus we become ministers of hope to others. (33, 34)  St. Clare is the enduring witness to the hope-filled truth about prayer: 
I can always talk to God! (32)

The Seventh Day
My Body, too, Abides in Hope
Christian hope did not disappoint St. Clare of Assisi in time of trial.  Rather it gave (her) courage and directed her actions in good times and bad. (33)  Twenty-eight years of chronic ill-health only proved that St. Clare had a hope stronger than suffering, a hope which transformed life and the world from within. (4)  She wants everyone to know that in all human suffering we are joined by One who experiences and carries that suffering with us… and so the star of hope rises. (39)
The Eighth Day
Hope Beyond the Vail
Because she always lived in hope, St. Clare could welcome death with hope.  At the threshold of death, she knew she was not alone, assuring her blessed soul: You will have a good Escort for the journey.  This good Escort was none other than Christ Himself who walked with (her) even on the path of final solitude… (who) conquered death and returned to accompany her into the land of the living. (cf. 6)  This is the legacy of hope Clare of Assisi has bequeathed to the Church.
The Ninth Day
Give the Reason for Your Hope
Apostles of hope – beacons of hope – ministers of hope – heralds of hope – witnesses to hope, - these are a few of the phrases Pope Benedict XVI has used to describe the Christian’s service to hope.  The Gospel compels us to pass on the hope we hold in common. (29)  Those who knew St. Clare witnessed the flowering of hope in her life and how she passed it on to others. Her life was full of God and hence it was full of hope.  Clare calls us to open our lives to CHRIST OUR HOPE, allowing Him to transform us from within.  Lord, may Your mercy be on us who have placed our HOPE in You!
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