On the feast of Corpus Christi this year, I told the story
about how St. Clare, already a professed religious for 30 years, turned away a
barbarian army from sacking the town of Assisi.
As the army approached, she prostrated herself before Jesus in the Blessed
Sacrament and prayed for the protection of Assisi. She heard the voice of Jesus assuring her
from the monstrance, “I will always have you in my care.” Clare, took the monstrance in her hands and
raised it in front of the approaching army, and at its sight, the attacking
army was filled with fear and fled the town.
This is why statues and religious art depict St. Clare
holding the monstrance, as does the statue near my confessional, and the
stained glass window in the choir loft.
There is another story of her great love and devotion to the
Eucharist. Toward the end of her life,
when she was too ill to attend Mass, the Holy Spirit would project the Holy
Mass on the wall of her room so that she could watch it from her bed. This is why this saint from the 1200s was
named the patron saint of television. And
it’s not a mere coincidence that a poor clare nun, Mother Angelica founded the
first worldwide Catholic Television network, EWTN.
The reading from the letter to the Philippians is so
fitting. Paul speaks of “forgetting what
lies behind” and “straining forward to what lies ahead.” St. Clare was born in a family with great
wealth. She could have married a very
wealthy suitor and lived in luxury and comfort her whole life. But this beautiful woman chose to follow the
Lord in poverty, chastity, and obedience as a cloistered nun. She gave up everything to follow Jesus and
she became a saint.
In fact, in that first group of women joining saint clare in
the monastery, were women who were eligible to marry dukes and kings. But they followed Clare’s example to follow
the poor Christ. Agnes, princess of
Bohemia broke off her royal engagement to the emperor Frederick II to join Clare’s
monastery in Prague.
The idea of entering a monastery in order to pursue a life
of prayer and joyful communion with the Lord is quite foreign to many
today. Our modern culture infects our
young girls with a lie that they cannot be happy unless they, like a Disney princess,
marry prince charming and lives in a castle filled with all the luxuries money
can buy.
In Clare, that lie is untwisted. She did marry a king, but a poor king, who
suffered and died for her. She reminds
all of us that the greatest happiness in this life and the life to come is
found in deep, intimate communion with Jesus Christ.
Here are the words Clare wrote to princess Agnes: “I am
filled with joy and gladness, for though you could have enjoyed the
magnificence, and dignity, and honor of the world, you have rejected all these
things. Keep in your heart the burning
desire to unite yourself to the poor and crucified Christ. What a wonderful and praiseworthy exchange! To leave the things of time, for those of
eternity, to possess a blessed eternal life.”
Through the example and intercession of St. Clare may we too
leave the things of time, for those of eternity, for the glory of God and
salvation of souls.
No comments:
Post a Comment