There was one place in Assisi in the early 13^th century where our Lord assuredly found faith and that was in the little monastery of San Damiano.  Even its location outside the city walls was a proclamation of its inhabitants’ faith in God’s protecting providence.  When St. Francis brought St. Clare and her first companion, her younger sister Agnes, to this little nest of poverty in the spring of 1212, a new chapter in the history of religious life began. 

  Faith commits every one of us to become a living sign of the presence of the Risen Lord in the world.
Pope Benedict XVI, Porta Fidei, 15

 

 In God’s plan, Clare and Agnes were not destined to remain alone.  Around them, wishing to live like the birds of the air and the lilies of the field, gathered the first group of Sisters, for whom God alone sufficed. St. Pope St. John Paul II  The grace of faith opened the “eyes of their hearts” to the beauty of a Gospel life of prayer and penance hidden with Christ in God, offered in union with Him for the salvation of the world. cf. Catechism #158  In the small space of the monastery of San Damiano, at the school of Jesus, contemplated with spousal affection in the Eucharist, day by day the features developed of a community governed by the love of God and by prayer, by caring for others and by service. In this context of profound faith and great humanity, Clare became a sure interpreter of the Franciscan ideal.
Pope Benedict XVI, Letter for the 8^th Centenary of St. Clare’s Religious Consecration

The Seraphic Mother frankly admitted that deprivation, poverty, labor, trial, scorn and contempt of the world marked her community’s first years.  Yet, unshakable faith in God made Clare and her Sisters not only accept these sufferings but reckon them as great delights.  Faith made them understand that their consecrated obscurity was a sharing in the hidden life of Jesus, a participation in the holy humility, the blessed poverty, the untold labors and burdens that He endured for the whole human race.
St. Clare, 4^th Letter to St. Agnes of Prague

The forty years lived in the monastery of San Damiano did not narrow the horizons of Clare’s heart, but expanded her faith in the presence of God, working out salvation in history.
Pope St. John Paul II, Letter for the 750^th anniversary of the Death of St. Clare

 St. Clare still reminds the Church of the need for faith in God and of attentiveness to His hidden action in the human heart and in human history.  It is always in the light of faith that God gives Himself.  But the signs of God are so discreet in the ordinariness of your everyday life that you must be vigilant if you are to persevere and grow in faith. Pope St. John Paul II   When the Son of Man comes to earth, will He find faith?

Through the example and prayers of St. Clare of Assisi, may the answer be always: YES!


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