There was one place in
of the
Risen Lord in the world.
Pope Benedict XVI, Porta Fidei,
15
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, 4th Letter to St. Agnes of
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.
Saint
Pope John Paul II, Letter for the 750th anniversary of the
Death of St. Clare
Through the example and prayers of St. Clare of
THE SWEET FRUIT OF FAITH
Clare was the noble and lofty tree bringing
forth
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PART 3
A hint of wistfulness permeates the question Jesus posed at the end of
the parable of the persistent widow:
When the Son of Man comes to
earth, do you think He will find faith?
While this query points
primarily to Christ’s final coming, it can also refer to what St.
Bernard calls our Lord’s “intermediate comings.”
Will the Son of Man find faith
in our hearts when He comes in the daily occasions for virtue, in
little inspirations of grace?
Will He find faith as He
is proclaimed in His Word or is made present in the Blessed Sacrament?
Will He
find faith
when He reveals Himself in the distressing disguise of the poor or
in the shadow of the Cross?
Will He find faith?Lk
18:8
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