Clare was the noble and lofty tree bringing forth
By His
Passion and death on the Cross Christ has given a new meaning to suffering:
it can henceforth configure us to Him and unite us with His Redemptive
Mission.
Catechism #1505
It
was faith which caused St. Care to
rejoice in the measure in which she
shared Christ's sufferings.
1 Peter 4:13
Her early biographer remarks that
Clare maintained a festive and joyful
appearance in every one of her mortifications.
Even more, as she
lay dying,
Clare was so invigorated by the strength
of the Lord that she strengthened in the service of Christ everyone who came
to her.
The Legend of St.
Clare What
was the secret of such strength out of weakness? The Seraphic Mother gives
us this faith-filled reply:
Once I came to know the grace of my Lord Jesus Christ... no
pain
has been bothersome, no penance too severe, no
weakness has been hard.
Her faith gave rise
to love, the love that
is the light — and in the end, the only
light — that can always illuminate a world grown dim and give us the courage
needed to keep living and working.
Pope
Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est,
39
May the light of faith bring us to this height of love so that God's
strength may be drawn out of our weakness, too!
St.
Care of Assisi was, by all accounts, a
strong woman. She showed an exceptional strength of will in responding
to God's plan for her life. Her strength of character was manifested in
the serenity with which she faced the opposition, scorn and contempt of
those who did not understand her vocational choice. Even physically she
was strong, and able in her younger years to take on an austere regimen
of penances that would tax the capacity of even the fittest saint.
God's
power is universal, loving and yet mysterious, for only
faith can discern [that power] when it "is made perfect
in weakness."
cf. Catechism #268
In 1224 Clare fell ill, so ill that her Sisters feared
she would die. God spared her life but never fully restored her health. For
the next twenty-nine years, the Seraphic Mother carried the cross of chronic
illness, for the most part completely bedridden and often so weak that she
needed help even to sit up, Yet it was precisely at this point of physical
diminishment that divine grace equipped her with a spiritual strength that
astonished even those who were closest to her.