Like our Mother St. Clare, We Desire to Live:
+ as brides
of Christ, adding to the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience,
a fourth vow of enclosure, "that liberating gift of the Holy
Spirit which leads those who receive it over the threshold which opens
upon a life of profound union with God."
(CONSTITUTIONS, art. 20,1)
+ as
daughters of the Church, "distinguished by that loyal
obedience to the Vicar of Christ and the holy Roman Church which so
characterized our foundress."
(CONSTITUTIONS, art. 4,1)
+
as sisters united in love. "We cherish our religious habit
as a sign of our consecration to God and as one of the most meaningful
expressions of our shared life and ideal."
(CONSTITUTIONS, art. 44,1)
In solitude and silence, in
persevering prayer and willing penance,
in humble manual labor and
contemplative study,
in the intense community life of the cloister,
the
Poor Clare proclaims to the world that:
In God alone do we find hope and joy, fulfillment and peace.