Feast Of St Clare

[cappie]

The saint we commemorate today, St. Clare of Assisi had as the most striking features of her life the cheerful joy and humanity which radiated from her and those whom she formed in the way of life that included a taking up of the cross of Jesus. She had every advantage the world of her time and place could offer: youth, beauty, intelligence, wealth and influence. But she early came to see clearly their limits and looking beyond their false promise saw that the value of her life was not to be measured by any of these things or all of them together.

The words of the apostle Paul to the Philippians explain to us the meaning of Clare's gesture. Clare was a holy woman who saw all else as rubbish because she saw Christ Jesus as her wealth. By her life of discipline, holiness and poverty, Clare continues to teach the Church that Christ must be our wealth. And so, while some people think the best way to live is to love and seek wealth with all their heart, with their entire mind, and with all their strength, Clare lived out the words of the letter to the Philippians. Recognizing the surpassing value of the knowledge of Christ, she loved him with all her mind, with all her heart, and with all her strength. Clare fell in love with Christ. And when two people fall in love, they not only fall into each other's arms, they get lost in each other. St. Clare was willing to lose herself in Christ. She gave her whole life to Christ, the one she saw as her groom. Clare clung to Christ tightly because , as she said of him, Christ's love sets our own love on fire.

It is when we contemplate Christ on the cross that his love inflames our love. As St Clare puts it, the unspeakable love of Christ on the cross, the love of Christ, inflames our hearts. Look at Christ on the cross, poor, obedient, deprived of pleasure. His poverty and nakedness on the cross counsels us to embrace the detachment of poverty; his obedience unto death counsels us to submit to God's will in obedience; his suffering and pain on the cross counsel us to give up all unchaste pleasure by embracing the vow of chastity. When this is done, then, like St Clare, the words of Paul's letter to the Philippians become true in our lives:
I have come to rate all as loss in the light of the surpassing knowledge of my Lord Jesus Christ. For his sake I have accepted the loss of everything, and I see everything as rubbish so that Christ may be my wealth.


Celebrant: Jesus has made the promise that whatever we, as a community, ask for, the Heavenly Father will grant.

May the prayer of the Church, offered from dawn until sunset and through the hours of the night, bring hope to the anxious, forgiveness to sinners, and grace to the virtuous. Lord, hear us.

May all who have been marked with the cross of Christ at their baptism be faithful to him and live their lives in service of others in his spirit of love. Lord, hear us.

Faithful Saint Clare, loyal daughter of the Church, friend and confidante of popes, intercede for the Church and look graciously from Heaven on our holy Father Pope Benedict Lord hear us

Saint Clare, first disciple of St Francis, who abandoned all riches and honors for a life of sacrifice and poverty, obtain from God for us the grace of always submitting to the Divine Will Lord, hear us.

Saint Clare, whose very name means light, illumine the darkness of our minds and hearts so that we might see what God wishes us to do and perform it with a willing and joyful heart Lord, hear us.

Celebrant: Heavenly God, we your servants praise you, for you stoop from the heights to care for us. Fill our hearts with love through Christ our Lord.

[lookingforfaith]

I LOVE St. Clare! Aside from the Blessed Mother, she is my favorite female saint!!! Thank you so much for posting this!!!

[Tally Marx]

Yes, thank you for posting! She's my second favorite female saint (apart from the Blessed Mother).