From: rich <richarra@gmail.com>

August 11th - St. Clare

Clare was born around 1193 in Assisi, Italy. She lived at the time of
St. Francis of Assisi. Clare became the foundress of an order of nuns
called the "Poor Clares." When she was eighteen, she heard St. Francis
preach. Her heart burned with a great desire to imitate him. She also
wanted to live a poor, humble life for Jesus. So one evening, she ran
away from home. In a little chapel outside Assisi, she gave herself to
God. St. Francis cut off her hair and offered her a rough brown habit
to wear. She stayed with the Benedictine nuns until more nuns would
join her. Her parents tried in every way to make her return home, but
Clare would not. Soon her 15-year-old sister Agnes joined her.
Other young women wanted to be brides of Jesus, too. Before long there
was a small religious community.

St. Clare and her nuns wore no shoes. They never ate meat. They lived
in a poor house and kept silent most of the time. Yet they were very
happy because they felt that Jesus was close to them. Once an army of
rough soldiers came to attack Assisi. They planned to raid the convent
first. Although very sick, St. Clare asked to be carried to the wall.
She had the Blessed Sacrament placed right where the soldiers could
see it. Then she knelt and begged God to save the nuns. "O Lord,
protect these sisters whom I cannot protect now," she prayed. And a
voice within her seemed to say: "I will keep them always in my care."
At the same time, a sudden fright struck the attackers. They fled as
fast as they could.

St. Clare was abbess of her convent for 40 years. Twenty-nine of
those years she was sick. But she said that she was joyful anyway
because she was serving the Lord. Some people worried that the nuns
were suffering because they were so poor. "They say that we are too
poor, but can a heart which possesses the infinite God be truly poor?"
St. Clare died on August 11, 1253. Just two years later she was
proclaimed a saint by Pope Alexander IV.

Saint Quote:
On her deathbed, Clare was heard to say to herself. Go forth in peace,
for you have followed the good road. Go forth without fear, for he who
created you has made you holy, has always protected you, and loves you
as a mother. Blessed be you, my God, for having created me.
--Saint Clare of Assisi

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THE GREATEST GLORY
1. "Oh, how beautiful is the chaste generation with glory!" (Wisdom
4:1). This praise of heaven St. Clare and her company of sisters have
merited for themselves. Corporal beauty, personal charm, and costly
clothes in which the children of the world take so much pleasure, this
wise virgin considered as naught. She understood the meaning of the
Psalmist's words: "All the glory of the king's daughter is within"
(Psalm 44:14). Untainted purity of soul. humility, voluntary poverty,
penance, ardent love of God; these were the virtues in which she
sought her glory, and in them she found imperishable beauty. Where are
now the beautifully dressed women of Assisi of that period? Their
memory has vanished. But Clare, like St. Francis, shines in heaven and
on earth. Both have made their town famous throughout the world.--Do
you want true and lasting glory? It is to be found only in virtue.
Where have you sought it in the past?
2. Consider that, like a wise virgin, St. Clare did not make a display
of her virtues before the world, but strove to hide them in the
strictest seclusion. If the violet, which give forth such a sweet
scent in its seclusion, is planted in an open garden, its beauteous
color fades and the sweetness of its scent diminishes. The same thing
happens with our virtues and good works. That is why St. Gregory,
commenting on the Gospel parable of the ten virgins, says: "The good
that we do must be carefully concealed, so that we do not look for
favor and honor among men, otherwise that which externally appears as
virtue would be inwardly deprived of its merit." Christians who are
interested in their salvation, and especially Christian women and
girls, even though they do not live in a convent, are included in the
words of the Apostle: "For you are dead, and your life is hid with
Christ in God" (Col 3:3).--Can this be said of you?
3. Consider what happiness St. Clare found even here on earth in her
life of seclusion. This did not consist in material comfort, nor even
in continual spiritual consolation, but in sacrifices made for God, by
which she became ever more intimately united with the Source of all
happiness. She once said to a young girl: "Our alliance is arrived at
by self-denial and the renunciation of earthly things, by the
crucifixion of the body and the sacrifice of the will, but the joys
attached to it are eternal, the bond is indissoluble, it begins in the
world, death puts the final seal to it." On the morning of the day on
which she died she received the holy Viaticum; in the afternoon, Pope
Innocent IV paid her a visit and gave her the general absolution. But
Clare felt happier at having received the Lord of heaven in holy
Communion than at having been honored by a visit from the pope.--May
we, too, become indifferent to all earthly glory so that we may be
permitted to enjoy the eternal!

PRAYER OF THE CHURCH
We beseech Thee, O Lord, grant us Thy servants who devoutly celebrate
the feast day of the holy virgin Clare, to be made partakers of the
joys of heaven and co-heirs of Thy only-begotten Son. Who livest and
reignest forever and ever. Amen.
--- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
* Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)