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St. Clare of It is said that St. Francis never referred to St. Clare by her proper name, Chiara, preferring to speak of her instead as “that Christian Woman,” Christiana. While his medieval biographers emphasize this as proof of Francis’ great modesty in regard to women, we also see it as a sign of the Little Poor Man’s immense esteem for his firstborn spiritual daughter. Clare’s following of Christ, like that of Francis, was so total, so all-embracing, that she could truly say, It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. It is from this Christian Woman that we can learn how to open our hearts to the workings of God’s grace in order to become truly Christian in every aspect of our lives. |
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The
First Day |
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St. Clare and the Grace
of Holy Baptism |
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The ancient account
of St. Clare’s life begins and ends with a reference to her Baptism.
This daughter of God lived her baptismal consecration so fully that we
see fulfilled in her these significant words of Blessed John Paul II: The
Spirit of the Lord and His holy manner of working, which is given to us
in Baptism, is that of creating in the Christian the image of the Son of
God. |
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The
Second Day |
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St.
Clare and the Grace of Holy Baptism |
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The
enclosed contemplative life of St. Clare of |
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The
Third Day |
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| Rooted in the Passion of Christ | ||
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Throughout the
unfolding of her long religious life, the Seraphic Mother kept her focus
on the mystery of the Cross. Keep always in mind the Passion of the Lord, was just one of her
reminders to her followers on the Gospel way.
Clare learned to know Christ Crucified as Mary did, by rooting
herself at the foot of His Cross in love and by accepting with faith her
daily share in the mystery of His saving Passion. |
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The
Fourth Day |
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St.
Clare and the Marian Mysteries |
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The Pope who
canonized St. Clare bestowed upon her this significant title: the
footprint of the Mother of God. The Sisters who lived with her
testified to how closely her life was patterned on that of Mary, the
humble handmaid of the Lord. And St. Clare herself directs us to cling
to this most sweet Mother….Follow in the footsteps of her humility and
her poverty. |
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The
Fifth Day |
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| Lifting the World to God |
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St. Clare, we find fulfilled the old spiritual maxim: The soul that raises itself to God lifts the world. This was her
mission, hidden within the walls of her poor monastery on the outskirts
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The
Sixth Day |
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| St. Clare and the Mystery of Vocation |
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| A vocation is a divine gift, the fruit of God’s gracious initiative. But it is a gift that requires a generous, persevering human response -- like that St. Clare gave throughout the forty-two years of her enclosed religious life. What kindled her life-long response in love to the mystery of her calling? It was a deep, personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the Son of God who had become her Way. | ||
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The
Seventh Day |
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Woman
of Poverty, Peace and Prayer |
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| The message of this Christian Woman can be synthesized in three words: Poverty, Peace and Prayer, wrote Blessed John Paul II. Striving, like St. Francis, to faithfully imitate the poverty of Christ transformed this daughter of a powerful knightly family into a messenger of peace and | ||
| The
Eighth Day August 9 |
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| St.
Clare: Spouse of Christ |
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of the beauty of her face, plans for marriage were discussed, the
early sources tell us. But St. Clare had already chosen and been
chosen by a Spouse of a nobler rank, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Forty-two laboring, suffering, vigilant years in the cloister found
Clare still choosing Christ in love, in the little as well as the large
events of a life which opened out into the vast, all-embracing horizons
of spiritual brideship. |
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| The
Ninth Day August 10 |
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| St.
Clare: Daughter of the Church |
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| Loyalty to
Christ’s Bride, the Church, reverential respect for the Vicar of
Christ and all priests, and deep penetration into the treasury of Church
teaching were long the hallmarks of St. Clare’s enclosed life of
prayer and penance. She died as a happy, holy, faithful daughter
of |
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