Tom Thomas –
Clara: in Latin, means bright and clear.
There is no better way to describe St Clare of Assisi (Feast Day – August 11th) than using the words of Pope Alexander IV (in 1255) who says in his canonization decree: “Clare, brilliant by her bright merits, by the brightness of her great glory in heaven, and by the brilliance of her sublime miracles on earth shines brightly…after course of her mortal life!”
She was inspired to leave behind a worldly life full of riches and embrace Lady Poverty, after being touched by St Francis of Assisi’s preaching and the great renouncing of worldly wealth before the bishop and people of Assisi. She shows the way – bright and clear – to Jesus.
Clare was known for her great beauty and her rich, royal family wanted to get her married off to an earthly prince or king. It is documented that on the night of Palm Sunday (28 March 1211), she escaped from home, had her luxurious locks of hair (which are preserved to this day in Assisi) cut by Francis, and wore a simple brown religious cloak after trading in her luxurious worldly garments. A few days later, her sister joined her too. Her family tried to drag her back but to no avail.
Ever since she embraced this radical call, she never looked back. She went on to live twenty-seven years after the death of St Francis. A strong woman, she wrote the first monastic rule of her order, something that several popes rejected being too rigid on poverty. She relentlessly pushed for the acceptance of her rule, and finally, Papal approval was given two days before her death.
The focus of this article is on the letter that Clare wrote to Agnes, a candidate who similarly wanted to leave the world and find Him in a life of contemplation and poverty. There were four letters and the third letter, in particular, draws attention to the Mirror:
“Place your mind before the mirror of eternity!
Place your soul in the brilliance of glory!
Place your heart in the figure of the divine substance
and, through contemplation,
transform your entire being into the image
of the Godhead Itself,
so that you too may feel what friends feel
in tasting the hidden sweetness
that, from the beginning,
God Himself has reserved for His lovers.” (The Third Letter of Clare to Agnes of Prague)
This seems key for us to understand. When we look at the Mirror, the image of the crucified Christ, what do we see reflected? Is it our proud or vainly glorious self? Or is it the crucified Christ? How can we be transformed like Him? Only by constant contemplation says, Clare.
In this letter, Clare also mentions:
“I see too, that by humility, the virtue of faith, and the strong arms of poverty, you have taken hold of that incomparable treasure hidden in the field of the world and in the hearts of men (cf Mt 13:44), with which you have purchased that field of Him by whom all things are made from nothing. And, to use the words of the Apostle himself in their proper sense, I consider you as a co-worker of God Himself (cf. 1 Cor 3:9; Rm 16:3) and a support of the weak members of His ineffable Body. Who is there, then, who would not encourage me to rejoice over such marvellous joys?”
We can reflect on the three pillars that Clare mentioned which we must have in order to see the Lord in the Mirror, the true treasure in our lives. These pillars are: Humility, Faith and Poverty.
Without these three in equal measure, we are looking at the mirror and in vain. By Poverty, it could mean Poverty of Spirit. But for Clare and her companions, it meant embracing Lady Poverty completely and wholeheartedly, just as St Francis did and exhorted all the Franciscan orders to do. Humility was brought to them in their simple attire and simple food (most times they ate only one meal a day, meat hardly ever!). This austere lifestyle and complete concentration on the Lord through a contemplative lifestyle started generating interest. Such was the power of this great contemplative St Clare, that the many Poor Clare monasteries all over the world are known for the great power of their prayers. It is said fishermen of some communities don’t even venture out to sea, without obtaining the prayerful invocation of the Poor Clares. There are many more such examples.
Sometime ago, accompanied by family, I happened to visit a Poor Clare Monastery of Perpetual Adoration in Milagres, Mangalore. Here Adoration goes on around the clock. The public sit on one side of the walled chapel, and the sisters hidden away from the gaze of people, live a life of absolute poverty. The high wall, with some metal gratings at the very top separates us. It is through these gratings, that one can hear at the specific times of praise and prayer, the Poor Clares’ singing to Him. Truly it is the sound of Angels, as anyone who has the good fortune to have heard this can attest. The only contact the Poor Clares have with the outside world, or the outside world can have with them is through the Mother Abbess. Once they make their profession, they don’t leave the walls of the convent unless they are sick and need medical attention or to vote during election times.
In our modern day, 24×7 always on digital world where we are constantly surrounded by noise, this seems to be an aberration of sorts. Why would these Sisters voluntarily consent to live such a life of rigid monastic, leaving the world behind them, to focus on the Lord completely, living lives that are either praying to Him or adoring Him constantly? They have found the most important thing in life – Him!
It could come as a great surprise that St Clare is the patron saint of television and Mother Angelica, a Poor Clare nun, founded the giant Christian Broadcasting network EWTN! The ways of the Lord are marvellous indeed, to make contemplative nuns, masters in communication. How a girl who renounced everything at the peak of her life at eighteen years and went into the seclusion of the Convent found God, and helps us to find Him through her words and the congregation she founded and left behind, many centuries after her death is remarkable.
In ending this article, these words from her fourth letter to Agnes are worth pondering upon:
“Gaze upon that mirror each day,
O Queen and Spouse of Jesus Christ,
and continually study your face in it,
that you may adorn yourself completely,
within and without,
covered and arrayed in needlework
and similarly adorned
with the flowers and garments of all the virtues,
as is becoming, the daughter and dearest bride
of the Most High King.
Indeed,
in that mirror,
blessed poverty,
holy humility,
and inexpressible charity shine forth
as, with the grace of God,
you will be able to contemplate them throughout
the entire mirror.” From the Fourth Letter of Clare to Agnes of Prague)
May we seek to look upon the mirror every day as St Clare did. Then we will truly find Him in our lives.