Santa Chiara d’Assisi
Thoughts on the feast of St. Clare.
The hallmark of St. Clare’s sanctity is her complete devotion to the naked poverty of Jesus Crucified which inspired her to wholeheartedly embrace a life of penance, expressed through absolute poverty. In this she was as radical as St. Francis of Assisi. Poverty and penance, along with devotion to the passion of Christ, is what distinguishes the Frnciscan charism from all other “schools” of spirituality.
From the Rule of St. Clare.
1 After the most high heavenly Father saw fit by his grace to enlighten my heart to do penance according to the example and teaching of our most blessed Father, Saint Francis, I, together with my sisters, willingly promised him obedience shortly after his own conversion.
2 When the blessed Father saw we had no fear of poverty, hard work, trial, shame, or contempt of the world, but, instead, regarded such things as great delights, moved by compassion he wrote a form of life for us as follows: 3 “Because by divine inspiration you have made yourselves daughters and servants of the Most High King, the heavenly Father and have espoused yourselves to the Holy Spirit, choosing to live a life according to the perfection of the holy Gospel, 4 Resolve and promise for myself and for my brothers to always have that same loving care and solicitude for you as I have for them”. 5 As long as he lived he diligently fulfilled this and wished that it always be fulfilled by his brothers.
6 Shortly before his death he once more wrote his last will for us that we or those, as well, who would come after us would never turn aside from the holy poverty we had embraced. He said: 7 “I, little brother Francis, wish to follow the life and poverty of our most high Lord Jesus Christ and of his Holy Mother and to persevere in this until the end; 8 and I ask and counsel you, my ladies, to live always in this most holy life and poverty. 9 And keep most careful watch that you never depart from this by reason of the teaching or advice of anyone”.
10 As I, together with my sisters, have ever been solicitous to safeguard the holy poverty which we have promised the Lord God and blessed Francis, 11 so, too, the Abbesses who shall succeed me in office and all the sisters are bound to observe it inviolably to the end: 12 that is, by not receiving or having possession or ownership either of themselves or through an intermediary, 13 or even anything that might reasonably be called property, 14 except as much land as necessity requires for the integrity and proper reclusion of the monastery, 15 and this land may not be cultivated except as a garden for the needs of the sisters. - Rule
August 11th, 2007 at 11:24 pm
Something tells me you’ve a very Franciscan heart, Terry.
This statement was cause for pause: “Poverty and penance, along with devotion to the passion of Christ, is what distinguishes the Franciscan charism from all other ’schools’ of spirituality.” It’s such a triune sentence..I was thinking that a spirit of embracing poverty for love can’t help but lead to devotion to the passion of Christ. The same for living a spirit of penance — leads directly to devotion to His Passion. And of course, anyone devoted to His Passion knows some of what it was about, and thus (it seems to me), one must embrace poverty, and one must embrace penance.. because the bride must resemble the Bridegroom.
August 12th, 2007 at 8:19 am
It’s difficult to understand this idea of poverty. In our culture and I suppose in Clare’s day as well, we are judged as lazy if we are not bringing in money (though you could be working harder than a person who is paid). Even religious orders are constantly proving that they are viable, ie, we make rosaries, etc. I’ve thought about Clare’s poverty a lot and I can barely comprehend it, so great is its mystery.