St. Clare of Assisi

St. Clare of Assisi - Patroness of Eyes and Television - August 12th

Clare was a beautiful Italian noblewomen who became the Foundress of an Order of nuns now called “Poor Clares.” When she heard St. Francis of Assisi preach, her heart burned with a great desire to imitate Francis and to live a poor humble life for Jesus. So one evening, she ran away from home, and in a little chapel outside Assisi, gave herself to God. St. Francis cut of her hair and gave her a rough brown habit to wear, tied with a plain cord. Her parents tried in every way to make her return home, but Clare would not. And soon her sister, St. Agnes, joined her, as well as other young women who wanted to be brides of Jesus, and live without any money.

St. Clare and her sisters wore no shoes, ate no meat, lived in a poor house, and kept silent most of the time. Yet they were very happy, because Our Lord was close to them all the time. Once, He saved them from a great danger in answer to St. Clare’s prayer. An army of rough soldiers came to attack Assisi and they planned to raid the convent first. Although very sick, St. Clare had herself carried to the wall and right there, where the enemies could see it, she had the Blessed Sacrament placed. Then on her knees, she begged god to save the Sisters. “O Lord, protect these Sisters whom I cannot protect now,” she prayed. And a voice seemed to answer: “I will keep them always in My care.” At the same time a sudden fright struck the attackers and they fled as fast as they could.

St. Clare was sick and suffered great pains for many years, but she said that no pain could trouble her. So great was her joy in serving the Lord that she once exclaimed: “They say that we are too poor, but can a heart which possesses the Infinite God be truly called poor?”

I will remember this miracle of the Blessed Sacrament when I am at church. And then I will pray with great faith to Jesus in the Holy Eucharist: “Save me, O Lord, from every evil-of soul and body.”

Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
Friday following the Second Sunday After Pentecost
Taken from, “Divine Intimacy,” by Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D., pp.622-623

PRESENSE OF GOD – O Jesus, grant that I may penetrate the secrets hidden in Your divine Heart.

MEDITATION

1. After we have contemplated the Eucharist, a gift crowning all the gifts of the love of Jesus for men, the Church invites us to give direct consideration to the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the source and cause of all His gifts. We may call the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus the feast of His love for us. “Behold this Heart which has so loved men,” Jesus said to St. Margaret Mary; “Behold this Heart which has so loved men,” the Church repeats to us today, showing us that it is truly “in the Heart of Christ, wounded by our sins, that God had deigned to give us the infinite treasures of His love” (cf. Collect). Today’s liturgy inspired with this thought, reviews the immense benefits we owe to the love of Christ and sings a hymn in praise of His love. “Cogitationes cordis ejus,” chants the Introit of the Mass: “The thoughts of His Heart” – the Heart of Jesus – “are to all generations: to deliver them from death, to feed them in time of famine”. The Heart of Jesus is always in search of souls to save, to free from the snares of sin, to wash in His Blood, to feed with His Body. The Heart of Jesus is always living in the Eucharist to satisfy the hunger of all who long for Him, to welcome and console all those who, disillusioned by the vicissitudes of life, take refuge in Him, seeking peace and refreshment. Jesus Himself in our support of the hard road of life. “Take up My yoke upon you and learn of Me, because I am meek and humble of heart, and you shall find rest for your souls, Alleluia.” It is impossible to eliminate sorrow from our life; yet if we live for Jesus we can suffer in peace and find in the Heart of Jesus repose for our weary soul.

2. Today’s Gospel and Epistle lead us to consider the Sacred Heart of Jesus even more directly. The Gospel (Fn 19, 31-37) shows us His Heart pierced with a lance: “One of the soldiers opened His side with a spear,” and St. Augustine offers this comment: “The Evangelist says...opened, to show us that thereby the door of life was thrown open, through which the Sacraments of the Church flow forth”. From the pierced Heart of Christ, symbol of the love which immolated Him on the Cross for us, came forth the Sacraments, represented by the water and the Blood flowing from the wound, and it is through these Sacraments that we receive the life of grace. Yes, it is eminently true to say that the Heart of Jesus was opened to bring us into life. Jesus once said, “Narrow is the gate...that leadeth to life” (Mt. 7, 14); but if we understand this gate to be the wound in His Heart, we can say that no gate could open to us with greater welcome.

St. Paul, in his beautiful Epistle (Eph 3, 8-19), urges us to penetrate further into the Heart of Jesus to contemplate His “unsearchable riches” and to enter into “the mystery which hath been hidden from the eternity of God”. This is the mystery of infinite, divine love which has gone before us from all eternity and was revealed to us by the Word made flesh; it is the mystery of the love which willed to redeem us and sanctify us in Christ “in whom we have...[free] access to God”.

Again Jesus presents Himself as the door which leads to salvation. “I am the door. By Me if any man enter in he shall be saved.” (Fn 10, 9). This door is His Heart, which, wounded for us, has brought us into life. By love alone can we penetrate this mystery of infinite love, but not any kind of love will suffice. As St. Paul says, we must “be rooted and founded in charity”. Only thus shall we be able “to know...the charity of Christ which surpasseth all knowledge, that [we] may be filled unto all the fullness of God”.