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Saint Clare A Touch of Kindness |
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Saint Clare A Touch of Kindness |
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Because Saint Clare was born over 800 years ago, it sometimes seems hard to relate to her
in the 21st century. Cold, drafty castles, knights in shining armor, dragons, and gargoyles and all sorts of medieval trappings wrap her in a cloud of unreality. It sometimes, or at least to me - seems hard to think of her as a real person, doing ordinary things, with her sisters who were also ordinary. But God has always used ordinary people to do great things, and so it is true with Clare. Perhaps one of the best ways to find a common bondage with Clare is to look at how she lived among her sisters. How she related to them and they to her. Who is that quietly stepping down a dark hallway with a blanket to cover a sister shivering and quietly crying in bed, unable to sleep because of the cold? Who is that carefully setting a basin of water on the floor so as to wash the tired, cracked and bleeding feet of a sister returning from begging? Fourteen times in the canonization process we find Clare obtaining miracles of healing for her sisters. Kindness is a virtue that is not often extolled as being among the holiest of virtues, but in truth it is one of the greatest. Clare was kind. This kindness nutured and blossomed in the monastery, spilled like an overflowing stream into the world. Because of her care and concern for others she was drawn always to pray and it was her prayers that brought much grace into a darkened world. I am sure there are hundreds of cures that Clare obtained that have never been recorded in her life time and thousands afterwards - but the ones that are recorded, 14 healings among her sisters, and many others from the area surrounding are all touched with a simple virtue of kindness. She was kind because she loved, and because she loved she was able to obtain many blessings from God for others. Marco Bartoli in his wonderful book, 'Clare of Assisi' states that over half of the miracles of healings that Clare obtained were for children. It is said that how we treat the young and the old, the poor and the infirm is a true measure of our greatness. Saint Clare was and is truly a great woman, not because she climbed lofty mountains or sailed stormy seas, but because all she met, whether in her heart or in her prayers - she met with kindness. Do not hesitate to ask St.Clare for help in any need, big or small, she will hold each one tenderly in her heart and present them as she always has to Our Blessed Mother and her most Holy Son. |
