Something that is very difficult for some of us who live in the U.S.A. to comprehend is the choice made by saints to live in abject poverty for the sake of holiness and the desire for God. I’m thinking of this today because it is the feast of St. Clare, disciple of Francis of Assisi and the first woman to write a rule for religious women that was approved by the Roman Catholic Church. Clare lived from 1194 to 1253 and was just 15 years old when she was captivated by the spirit of Francis and 18 when she left home by night to join the band of friars who had given up everything to search for a life totally immersed in God.
Clare’s life was far from the romanticized image of her relationship with Francis. She hardly saw him at all and never left her convent at San Damiano. She and the women who followed her begged their food and lived a spartan life, composed of discipline and self-denial. While it is true that life was very different eight centuries ago in Europe, one still wonders how it would be possible – especially for a young person of an upper-class family – to be so totally captivated and dedicated for the entirety of her earthly life to an ideal of total denial. Clearly, Clare was an intelligent young woman who certainly knew what she was choosing. The proof is in the living out of the ensuing four decades where Clare shone as a beacon to those who would see the light as she did and be consumed by the great love of God.
How might we contextualize such desire and dedication in our own time and culture?
St. Clare of Assisi, whom we celebrate today, was a great example of the adage “Behind every good man, there is a good woman.” While he did not see her often, St. Francis counted on her holiness and wisdom to shore up his determination in times of doubt and difficulty. Clare was a clear mirror of the presence of God for Francis and for those women who followed her to the convent of San Damiano, and he was the same for her. She was a woman of great strength and perseverance who believed that she was the one who knew best what should be written in a rule for women in a religious order. Although she easily accepted the rule that Francis has written in the early days, after the death of Francis she continued for 27 years to submit a revised rule to bishops and popes until she finally received and signed a constitutional document of her own two days before her death on August 11, 1253.
There are so many ways to say it – and so many reasons to consider it. The point to make every day really is that love is at the heart of every solution, every relationship…every success in life. It was what fueled Sts. Francis and Clare (see yesterday’s post) and today, the message in the readings couldn’t be clearer.
Some years ago I had the privilege of visiting the town of Assisi in Italy. The visit was brief and the focus was, as one might think, the holy places associated with St. Francis. It was an extraordinary six hours, and I often long to return for a longer visit. One of my most vivid memories, however, was not of the places and stories of Francis alone – although those remain as well – but of walking down the path to the Church of San Damiano. Somehow, the olive trees that lined the path seemed to shimmer in the sunlight as if they were saying to me, “Pay attention, for this place you are approaching is extraordinarily holy.” San Damiano became the home of St. Clare and her followers in 1212 and she never left but died there on August 11, 1253. The intense holiness of the saint and her Sisters, who lived a poor and very simple life of prayer, can be felt in the walls of the refectory, in the oratory where they prayed and the dormitory where a cross marks the spot of Clare’s death. What, one wonders, creates such a living vibration in a place where life was so “daily?” Intention and motivation, I suspect. A famous quote of St. Clare gives a hint of an answer.
It’s late afternoon here in the Northeast of the USA and I might normally skip the daily blog post on a day this far spent but today is the feast of St. Clare and I want to say a word (or more) about her.
The Sophia Center for Spirituality 