Readings
I - Deu. 4: 32-40
II - Mt. 16: 24-28
ST. CLARE OF ASSISI
Today the Church celebrates the feast of St. Clare of Assisi, the founder of the Order of St. Clair. She is also the patroness of eye disease, laundry and goldsmiths. St. Clare of Assisi was born in Assisi on July 16, 1194. She was the eldest daughter from a wealthy and noble family. As a young girl, Clare dedicated herself to prayer and pious activities. At the age of eighteen, she heard St. Francis of Assisi preach during a Lenten service in the church of San Giorgio and asked him to help her live according to the Gospel. She became a Franciscan nun. In order to give her the greater solitude she desired, Francis sent Clare to another Benedictine nuns monastery. St. Clair along with the ladies who joined them to devote themselves to the Lord formed together "Poor Ladies of San Damiano." They all lived a simple life of austerity, seclusion from the world, and poverty, according to a Rule which Francis gave them as a Second Order. St. Clare and her sisters wore no shoes, ate no meat, lived in a poor house, and kept silent most of the time. Their lives consisted of work and prayer. They committed themselves to radical poverty. The Order of Poor Ladies was officially changed to the Order of Saint Clare in 1263 by Pope Urban IV.
In 1224, an army of rough soldiers from Frederick II came to attack Assisi. Although very sick, Clare went out to meet them with the Blessed Sacrament on her hands. She had the Blessed Sacrament placed at the wall where the enemies could see it. Then on her knees, she begged God to save the Sisters. "O Lord, protect these Sisters whom I cannot protect now," she prayed. A voice seemed to answer: "I will keep them always in My care." In that moment, a sudden fright struck the attackers and they fled as fast as they could without harming anyone in Assisi. This is why St. Clare is often pictured carrying a monstrance or pyx, to commemorate the time she warded off the soldiers at the gates of her convent with the Blessed Sacrament.
St. Clare became sick and suffered great pains for many years, but she expressed that no pain could trouble her. In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus says that if anyone wishes to follow him should deny themselves, take up the cross and follow him. St. Clair did it and has left us an example that the one who possess God possesses everything as she often used to say, "They say that we are too poor, but can a heart which possesses the infinite God be truly called poor?"
