An eminent Churchman was
once asked what he thought was the touchstone of Saint Pope John
Paul II’s spirituality.
Without a moment’s hesitation he replied:
For Saint Pope John Paul II, Jesus is ALIVE.
What the 20th
century Cardinal said of the Great Pope could easily have been said of St.
Clare by her 13th century contemporaries when they assessed her
spirituality:
For Clare, Jesus is ALIVE.
When the
Seraphic Mother congratulates St. Agnes of Prague on having merited to be
called a sister, spouse and mother of the Son of the Most High Father, she
writes of One whom she knew as a real, living, divine Person.
For St. Clare, Jesus was not a figure from
the distant past.
He was
the One who, for our sake (for her sake),
became flesh, suffered, died, and rose, who was faithfully fulfilling His
promise to be with us (to be with her) ALWAYS.
When St. Clare
writes of JESUS as THE SON OF THE MOST HIGH FATHER, she sets her
reader at the heart of divine revelation:
He will be great, and will be called
SON OF THE MOST HIGH.
Luke 1:32
This is the first point to which Clarian
beholding invites us: look to the Scriptures to learn about Christ.
Clare’s form of life was to observe the
holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. All that our Lord said, did and taught
in the Gospels, all that the Old Testament foretold of Him and all that the
New Testament proclaimed about Him was precious to her. Her prayer was
wholly imbued with the fragrance of Sacred Scripture.
There is a
second step on this Clarian path of beholding Christ.
When St. Clare referred to
JESUS as
SON
OF THE MOST HIGH FATHER, she did so enlightened and fortified by the
teachings of His Church.
In faith, she beheld Christ in the mystery
of His relationship with the Almighty Father:
God from God, Light from Light, true
God from true God. Thus she shows us that doctrine does not dampen or
diminish devotion. Rather, true doctrine purifies and deepens devotion.
It guards prayer from falling into mere
sentimentality and sets it on the bedrock of truth.
St. Clare’s
referring to JESUS as THE SON OF THE MOST HIGH FATHER also invites
us to focus on our Lord in a deeply Franciscan mode. St. Francis himself was
a great contemplative, and the appellation “Most High” often appears in his
writings.
For Francis, this name summarized God’s
greatness, His goodness, His transcendence, His holiness.
It summoned Francis to awe, reverence and
wonder in the divine presence.
Recognizing and beholding JESUS as
THE
SON OF THE MOST HIGH FATHER deepens our own awe, reverence and wonder
before the mystery of the Incarnation.
May you love totally Him
who gave Himself totally for your love.
This is the
Seraphic Mother’s final summons to those who have joined her in beholding
JESUS,
THE SON OF THE MOST HIGH FATHER.
Imbued with the Scriptures, informed by the
teachings of the Church, and penetrated by the spirit of St. Francis, Clare
knew the love of Him on whom she gazed.
She invites us to continue contemplating
this Lord
whose beauty the sun and moon admire,
and of whose gifts there is no limit
in preciousness and greatness.
I speak of Him who is
THE SON OF THE MOST HIGH.
