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Prayers and ReflectionsClare of Assisi – Reflecting JesusConsider Clare’s social situation and her family’s hopes for her
Born Chiara Offreduccio in Assisi in 1194, Clare was the eldest daughter of Favorino Scifi, Count of Sasso-Rosso and his wife Ortolana, a Countess in her own right. As the daughter of a Count and Countess, Clare lived a privileged life she learned from her mother, Ortolana to be prayerful, generous to the poor and of service to the needy. Clare was a child when Francis left his home and became a public figure in the streets of Assisi, begging for stones to rebuild the church of San Damiano, gathering his first companions who were well-known men of Assisi and starting to preach. Her home was right beside the church of San Rufino where Francis was baptised, attended Mass often and where, after his meeting with Pope Innocent III, began to preach. Clare lived at a time when power, wealth and status were held in high regard. As the eldest daughter she was valued by her uncles as the future bride of a rich aristocrat. They planned that Clare’s marriage would add wealth and power to the family as they jousted for a higher place in the society of Assisi where members of the merchant class, among them Francis’s father, were fast acquiring status through wealth and rising as a threat to the nobles. Clare’s Dream – Her Calling When she accompanied her mother on visits to the poor of Assisi she would certainly have encountered Francis, initially as the socially prominent rich young man, and later as he begged for stones to repair the churches. She listened to his preaching in the church of San Rufino. What he said resonated with what was in her own heart … she was attracted to his lifestyle. While in art Clare is depicted as a demure gentlewoman, there can be no doubt that she had a strong personality and the determination needed to pursue what she believed to be her special call. It took considerable courage for Clare to move against the plans made for her. Clearly the wealth, status and comfort meant nothing to her. It is understood that she had secret meetings with Francis and in 1212 on Palm Sunday evening she left her father’s house to join Francis and become the foundress of the Poor Ladies whom we now know as the Poor Clares. Reflection: Each one of us has a unique calling – God has a work for every person to do and no other can do it. Spend some time reflecting on your own call and your response. Have you been courageous and determined in pursuing your unique call? Are there things you are called to leave at this point in your life in order to become what God calls you to be today? Community Life at San Damaino Outside the city walls, in a dwelling attached to the tiny church of San Damiano in which Francis heard Jesus speak to him from the cross, Clare spent the rest of her life with women of Assisi who followed her. She was one in mind and heart with the ideals of Francis seeking to live according to the Gospel and so reveal who God is. During the process of canonisation the sisters witnessed to Clare’s long hours of prayer, to her loving kindness shown in washing the feet of her sisters on their return from begging and through listening to their stories, familiarising herself with the needs of the people around her. Clare welcomed the people of Assisi to the Monastery and is known to have had a gift of healing. Clare chose not to join an established order but to live dependent on alms and not on revenue derived from owned property – a choice that caused her to struggle with authority throughout her life until, on the eve of her death, she finally received approval for her Rule by Gregory IX and the privilege of living in poverty and without property. Pause: Using the following suggestions spend time reflecting
on your own personal attitude towards property and wealth; towards
personal advancement and social status.
Clare’s Prayer Francis prayed, he sought lonely places apart, he spent whole nights in prayer (1) and in his conversation he was constantly referring to God whose power and goodness he saw reflected in all of creation. Francis gave an example of the importance of prayer but he left no specific instructions on how to pray. It was Clare who did this in letters to Agnes of Prague . Agnes, daughter of the King of Bohemia used her wealth to build a Poor Clare monastery in Prague to which Clare sent five nuns in 1234. Though she was betrothed to Frederick II, Emperor of Germany, Agnes refused marriage and entered the Poor Clare monastery herself. As Abbess she sought spiritual guidance from Clare and four of Clare’s letters outlining her method of prayer are available to us today (2). Clare instructed Agnes to “gaze upon the Lord” and living in San Damiano, she was undoubtedly gazing upon the face of Jesus on the San Damiano Cross – that same Jesus who spoke to Francis. To Agnes she wrote:
(Second Letter to Agnes 20, 21) Clare’s life mission was to mirror and model Jesus in her life. “Contemplation has three goals: to make evident and to make happen
Clare instructs us to begin with “a visual reading, a gazing on the image of the crucified Christ, which leads to meditation or consideration of Christ, then to contemplation and imitation of Christ… Prayer is to forge us into the likeness of the beloved, and thus it is bringing Christ to life in the believer … it transforms the desire for gospel life into the practice of gospel living” (4). Briege O’Hare osc, in her hymn Gaze Upon the Lord (5), develops the instructions of Clare to Agnes about how to pray in this manner: Gaze upon the Lord, gaze upon His face Look upon your Lord, look upon his way, If you open to life’s pain, then with it you
shall reign Gaze upon his life gaze upon his love Let us reflect on our own prayer life:
References:
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O most noble Queen,