Today is the day on which we remember St. Clare

If you click on the picture to the left, you’ll go to a site that has an interesting and helpful outline of her life and examination of her writings and the Rule.

Clare’s most well-known letters were to St. Agnes of Prague, (or Bohemia) who was the daughter of a king and espoused to the Emperor Frederick, who remarked famously upon news of her refusal of marriage to him, "If she had left me for a mortal man, I would have taken vengeance with the sword, but I cannot take offence because in preference to me she has chosen the King of Heaven."

She entered the Poor Clares, and what makes the letters from Clare so interesting to me is the way that Clare plays on Agnes’ noble origins, using language and allusions that draw upon Agnes’ experience, but take her beyond it, as in this one:

Queen and bride of Jesus Christ, look into that mirror daily and study well your reflection, that you may adorn yourself, mind and body, with an enveloping garment of every virtue, and thus find yourself attired in flowers and gowns befitting the daughter and most chaste bride of the king on high.  In this mirror blessed poverty, holy humility and ineffable love are also reflected.  With the grace of God the whole mirror will be your source of contemplation.

Behold, I say, the birth of this mirror.  Behold his poverty even as he was laid in the manger and wrapped in swaddling clothes.  What wondrous humility, what marvelous poverty!  The King of angels, the Lord of heaven and earth resting in a manger!  Look more deeply into the mirror and meditate on his humility, or simply on his poverty.  Behold the many labors and sufferings he endured to redeem the human race.  Then, in the depths of this very mirror, ponder his unspeakable love which caused him to suffer on the wood of the cross and to endure the most shameful kind of death.  The mirror himself, from his position on the cross, warned passersby to weigh carefully this act, as he said:  All of you who pass by this way, behold and see if there is any sorrow like mine.  Let us answer his cries and lamentations with one voice and one spirit; I will be mindful and remember, and my soul will be consumed within me.  In this way, queen of the king of heaven, your love will burn with an ever brighter flame.

Consider also his indescribable delights, his unending riches and honors, and sigh for what is beyond your love and heart’s content as you cry out:  Draw me on!  We will run after you in the perfume of your ointment, heavenly spouse.  Let me run and not faint until you lead me into your wine cellar; your left hand rests under my head, your right arm joyfully embraces me, and you kiss me with the sweet kiss of your lips.  As you rest in this state of contemplation, remember your poor mother and know that I have indelibly written your happy memory into my heart, for you are dearer to me than all the others.

Finally, the most commonly asked question about Clare? Why is she the patron saint of television?

The answer:

Because once, while ill and bedridden, she was able to follow the Christmas Mass being celebrated at the Franciscan church…