Clothed With Gladness

Dear Sisters,

I have been reading Clothed With Gladness-The Story of St. Clare by Sister Mary St. Paul, P.C.C.
this Biography of the dear saint was filled with spiritual gems.  The foreword of the book was written by Fr. Benedict J. Groeschel.

If you are like me, you find the lives of the saints to be truly inspirational.  These elder brothers and sisters in faith have the gift of sloughing away all the unnecessary garbage in their lives and focusing on the truly transcendental truths.  When I read about these spiritual giants, I find myself reexamining my life.  As you can imagine, I find my faith wanting besides these pillars of gladness and joy.  But I do find these good people so inspirational as they too trod paths that were of the world until that moment when their soul recognized their one true love.

Clare was a beloved daughter of a wealthy family.  She was known for her beauty in the town of Assissi and surrounding areas.  Like all families in that time, they hoped to make an advantageous marriage for this lovely girl, but as she influences me with her story, another saint then living in her town influenced her journey.  Of course I speak of St. Francis.  St. Francis' love of Jesus sparked Claire's own love for the pierced Lord.  Once Clare understood what was required of her because of her great love, she was able to turn her back on all the worldly amusements and opulence in her family's sphere of influence. 

Like we all help one another grow in holiness, Clare's profound love influenced her younger sister.  When her family came to bear away her beloved sister, Clare prayed for a miracle.  Her sister, a petite girl became so heavy, that the men sent to retrieve her could not budge her from the ground.  I absolutely love stories like this.  It shows that if we have the faith of a mustard seed and we say to the mountain 'throw yourself into the sea' it WILL happen.  Imagine the faith of this marvelous little saint!  She believed with all her heart that God would hear her and aide her and He did!!

Clare of course founded the order of Poor Clares.  Their website lists the Poor Clares as: Contemplative nuns who live a life of prayer, community and joy.  All these centuries later, these dear women who are called to this life of poverty and selfless love, still have the JOY of their foundress, Clare.  Poor Clares are found throughout the US and all over the world.  The order of the Poor Clares was written by Clare herself, the first woman to put an order to pen in 1300 years of church history.

In particular, something that Clare wrote to Saint Agnes of Prague (these holy woman had an 18 year friendship through correspondence) has stuck with me of late.

"Place yourself before the mirror of eternity.
Place your soul in the splendor of glory.
Place your heart within the form of the divine substance, and through contemplation transform yourself wholly into the very image of the Godhead!"

The image of the mirror stayed with me.  'Why a mirror?', I pondered.   What is found in this mirror?  An image of course, but what image.  And then it hit me.  Edith Stein!  From pg 87 of our workbook, "What God knows when He knows our individual form is our true self...In this sense our individual form is not who we are but who we ought to be in order to be our true self."

When you place yourself before the mirror of eternity, you gaze upon the self that God sees.  The true self that you were meant to be is the image in the mirror of eternity.  By placing our souls in the splendor of glory, we will close the gap between our current self and our true self.  By placing our hearts within the very form of the divine and through contemplation we can transform ourselves into the very image of the Godhead!!!!  In other words, into our authentic, true self that God alone knows.  The image that most closely resembles HIM in all His glory.

How marvelous to see these two holy women separated by 7 centuries come to similar conclusions about our true selves.  This clarified for me that the Truth of our faith, of who we are, of who God is are knowable and have been knowable through the ages. 

Oh ancient Wisdom sublime,
Teach us your ways.
Bring us to your eternal mirror, where we can be who we were meant to be from the beginning of time.  Let us glimpse upon the visage of who we are within and let us strive to become this image each and every day hence.

With love