A Blessed Feast of St. Clare to You!

With so many new parishioners joining us regularly, each year for the feast of our Patroness, St. Clare of Assisi, I like to do a short overview of why she is so special to us and what she teaches us to emulate. From her many qualities, three main examples that stand out for me from her faithful discipleship are:

Simplicity – Clare had this unusual ‘falling in love’ experience with poverty. She felt that the simpler one’s life was the more ‘room’ there was for the Holy Spirit to flood our heart and mind. In a culture that teaches us to always want ‘more,’ Clare teaches to only want ‘more’ of God. Clare once said, "They say that we are too poor, but can a heart which possesses the infinite God be truly called poor?"

Eucharistic Devotion – the image of St. Clare on our Crucifix above the Altar shows her holding up the Monstrance, summoning us to make time for quiet prayer with Jesus in the Eucharist. Please make time on Tuesday evenings, 6-7 PM, or your own time, to come and sit quietly before the Eucharist and simply “let God love you.”

Faith through suffering – Clare suffered terribly with various illnesses but trusted in God through her pain. She teaches us that we can use any suffering in our life to get closer to Jesus…feeling some small sense of the suffering He went through for love of us.

St. Clare’s feast day is August 11, but we celebrate it this weekend as a parish family under her prayerful watch over us. Also remember to join our Poor Clare Nuns for the Novena to St. Clare this week.

St. Clare of Assisi pray for us!
Fr. Jim Deiters