The whole of St. Clare's
religious life can be understood as an expansion on that primary question in
the ancient Baptismal rite: "What do you ask of the Church?" "FAITH!" For
Clare of Assisi, the Church was THE place where the obedience of faith could
flourish.
Through faith the person (learns to discern
the constant presence of God
in order to
cleave in charity to His mystery of communion.
Verbi Sponsa, 22
The early sources tell us that after his
conversion St. Francis never did anything without consulting the Bishop of
Assisi. Thus we can assume that he sought Bishop Guido's advice concerning
the religious consecration of St. Clare, just as, years later, the Little
Poor Man would bring the Bishop along for moral support when he needed to
exhort Clare to moderate her austere fasts.
Clare's story, like Francis', had a specific ecclesial trait: an enlightened
pastor and two children of the Church who entrust themselves to his
discernment, In it, institution and charism wondrously interact. Love and
obedience... are rooted in this beautified experience of the Christian
community of Assisi, which not only gave birth to the faith of Francis and
of his "little plant," but also accompanied them, taking them by the hand
on the path of holiness.
Pope Benedict XVI. Letter for the 8th Centenary of
the Consecration of St. Clare
Clare willed that [her] cloistered community
be fully inserted into the Church
and solidly
anchored to it with the bond of filial subjection.
Saint Pope John Paul
II. Address to Priests and Religious. September 1998
Clare begins and ends her Rule — the first
Rule written by a woman to gain papal approval — with an attestation of
loyalty to holy Church. She specifies that candidates for her Order are to
be examined concerning the Catholic faith and the sacraments of the Church
and that a young woman may be received into her community only if she
believes all these things, is willing to confess them faithfully and to
observe them steadfastly. Chapter
2
She knew that a solid grounding in the doctrines of the faith prepares the
soul for the deep life of faith which is the cloistered contemplative
vocation. The Seraphic Mother also knew that each Sister's call to the
obedience of faith is likewise a call to be
a co-worker of God Himself and a support of the weak members of His
ineffable Body.
3rd Letter to St. Agnes
of Prague
Contemplation of God's beauty [became her] inheritance, [her] life's
program,
[her] way of
being present in the Church.
Saint Pope John
Paul II
What great spiritual fruits St. Clare's
obedience of faith yielded! The Church and the world reaped a rich harvest
of grace, gained an enduring example of fidelity to divine inspiration and
saw the fulfillment of St. Francis' prophecy concerning the church of San
Damiano outside Assisi:.
Here will dwell ladies by whose renowned and holy way of living our heavenly
Father will be glorified throughout all His holy Church.
The Testament of St.
Clare
