St. Clare of Assisi
Our Guide to the Garden of Prayer

Prayer is like a secret garden,
made up of silence and rest and inwardness.
                                        -  Jean Vanier

PART  ONE
The Gathering of the Heart
     Called by the Lord to be a model and mirror for those living in the world (Testament of St. Clare), Clare of Assisi shines forth as an exemplary guide in the garden of prayer.  The pattern of her life teaches the faithful that to pray all the time, we must pray at specific times; to pray in every place, we must pray in specific places.

       How does St. Clare teach us the delicate art of  "gathering our hearts" for the encounter with the living God which is prayer?

       Her ENCLOSURE is a radical witness to the Gospel directive:  When you pray, go into your room, shut the door and pray to your Father in secret.

       Her SILENCE invites believers to turn off that noise, within and without, which prevents a deep and fruitful listening to the Lord.  We all need this adoring silence, filled with the presence of the Lord.  (Pope John Paul II)

       Her spirit of CHARITY gives living witness that a recollected heart is a reconciled heart:  If you are bringing your gift to the altar and there realize that your brother has something against you, leave your gift, go to be reconciled to your brother and then come back and offer your gift.  (cf. Matt. 5:23-24)

       St. Clare is a holy realist in the realm of recollection.  The first instruction that she gave her Sisters when she taught them to pray was that they should strive to shut out all the tumult of this earth from their minds, that they might heed only the hidden things of God.  (Legend of St. Clare)

       She also taught them (and also teaches us) that HUMAN EFFORT, as well as DIVINE GRACE, is needed to achieve recollection:  Place your mind before the mirror of eternity, place your soul in the brightness of glory, place your heart in the figure of the divine substance.  (3rd Letter of St. Clare to St. Agnes of Prague)

       Her biographer noted how faithful the Lady Clare was to her own program of recollection:  She occupied her soul continually with holy prayers and the praises of God.  (Legend of St. Clare, 19)

       St. Clare shows us that entering into prayer is like entering into the Eucharistic liturgy: we "gather up" the heart, recollect our whole being under the prompting of the Holy Spirit, abide in the dwelling place of the Lord which we are, awaken or faith in order to enter into the presence of  Him who awaits us.  We let our masks fall and turn our hearts back to the Lord who loves us, so as to hand ourselves over to Him as an offering to be purified and transformed.  (CATECHISM 2711)
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