Posts
July/August
Brothers and Sisters,
The life of the Franciscan Friar is an itinerant, mendicant life. We imitate the homelessness of the Lord himself and refuse to get too comfortable in any particular place in this passing world. After all, our home is not here, but in heaven. It has been my joy and my honor to have the journey of your fraternity intersect with my own for this short time, and I take courage from your good example and witness to the Franciscan life. Let us pray for each other, and let the knowledge of the prayer of each be our courage in every struggle and difficulty to come. May the Lord give you peace and continue to bless the fraternity in every way. -
-Fr. Charles
Reflections on Our Beloved Priests
by Erma Recine
When Pope Benedict XVI declared a year for priests, running from June 19, 2009 to June 19, 2010, it was to mark the 150th anniversary of the death of St. John Vianney, who was a ³true example of a pastor at the service of the Flock of Christ.²
St John Vianney, as we all know, is the patron saint of all priests. I would like to share a few stories of priestly grace in action.
Story #1 reveals A Prodigal Daughter who comes home. As a teenager, the daughter was not being raised in a Christian home and was on the path of destruction. It was through God¹s miraculous hand that she found faith in a small Catholic prayer meeting in her town. The priest who provided church leadership and guidance became her confidante and catechist who listened to her problems and pains. Soon after, when the Prodigal Daughter turned 18, he baptized her in the Catholic faith. She was certain that God saved her life through the priest¹s ministry. He is still in Maine, and he continues to serve the Catholic Faith.
Story #2 It reveals a fallen Catholic who finds his footing after having been away from the Church for 15 years, and who lived a very sinful life. He began attending Mass with a priest friend who was a great mentor for him, and such an influence on his wife, who was Baptist, that she was confirmed at the last Easter Vigil. Fr. Bollinger is a wonderful priest who always seemed to put things in modern terms that made sense to everyone. Both husband and wife are so grateful for the priest and thank him every day for everything.
Closing: In Praise of Priests Much of what's been written about the Church in the past several years has been negative. I have known many priests throughout my life, including a brother, who is now with God, and some who have been an inspiration, and some who were difficult, but they were all great people. We are blessed and absolved through them. I always say, Find Christ through a priest, and it works for me. God bless our Priests. We are all blessed and absolved through them.
by Erma Recine
When Pope Benedict XVI declared a year for priests, running from June 19, 2009 to June 19, 2010, it was to mark the 150th anniversary of the death of St. John Vianney, who was a ³true example of a pastor at the service of the Flock of Christ.²
St John Vianney, as we all know, is the patron saint of all priests. I would like to share a few stories of priestly grace in action.
Story #1 reveals A Prodigal Daughter who comes home. As a teenager, the daughter was not being raised in a Christian home and was on the path of destruction. It was through God¹s miraculous hand that she found faith in a small Catholic prayer meeting in her town. The priest who provided church leadership and guidance became her confidante and catechist who listened to her problems and pains. Soon after, when the Prodigal Daughter turned 18, he baptized her in the Catholic faith. She was certain that God saved her life through the priest¹s ministry. He is still in Maine, and he continues to serve the Catholic Faith.
Story #2 It reveals a fallen Catholic who finds his footing after having been away from the Church for 15 years, and who lived a very sinful life. He began attending Mass with a priest friend who was a great mentor for him, and such an influence on his wife, who was Baptist, that she was confirmed at the last Easter Vigil. Fr. Bollinger is a wonderful priest who always seemed to put things in modern terms that made sense to everyone. Both husband and wife are so grateful for the priest and thank him every day for everything.
Closing: In Praise of Priests Much of what's been written about the Church in the past several years has been negative. I have known many priests throughout my life, including a brother, who is now with God, and some who have been an inspiration, and some who were difficult, but they were all great people. We are blessed and absolved through them. I always say, Find Christ through a priest, and it works for me. God bless our Priests. We are all blessed and absolved through them.
Prayer Reflection
Do I see You Lord?
Do I see You Lord?
Do I see You Lord in the face of the child?
Do I see You Lord in the eyes of the elderly?
Do I see You Lord in the face of the homeless?
Do I see You Lord and walk away?
Do I see an d choose to look away?
Why? Do You see me Lord?
Do see Me Lord as I stare in the Mirror?
What do You see, that I can not
see in the eyes of others or myself?
Help Me see with Your eyes.
Help Me see with your heart,
so when I look around I see You!
Help Me be mindful.
Help Me be able to Act and not just look.
To Do!
So when I look in the mirror
the reflection I see is YOU!
Frances Acosta
Do I see You Lord in the face of the child?
Do I see You Lord in the eyes of the elderly?
Do I see You Lord in the face of the homeless?
Do I see You Lord and walk away?
Do I see an d choose to look away?
Why? Do You see me Lord?
Do see Me Lord as I stare in the Mirror?
What do You see, that I can not
see in the eyes of others or myself?
Help Me see with Your eyes.
Help Me see with your heart,
so when I look around I see You!
Help Me be mindful.
Help Me be able to Act and not just look.
To Do!
So when I look in the mirror
the reflection I see is YOU!
Frances Acosta
Saint Clare of Assisi
![[Saint Clare of Assisi]](http://saints.sqpn.com/wp-content/gallery/saint-clare-of-assisi/saint-clare-of-assisi-00_0.jpg "83kb jpg detail of a fresco of
'Saint Clare and Saint Elizabeth of Hungary', Simone Martini, 1317,
Cappella di San Martino, Lower Church, San Francesco, Assisi, Italy")
Memorial
- 11 August
- formerly 12 August
- 23 September, feast of the finding of her body
- 3 October, feast of her first translation, celebrated within the Poor Clares
Clare’s father was a count, her mother the countess Blessed Orsolana. Her father died when the girl was very young. After hearing Saint Francis of Assisi preach in the streets, Clare confided to him her desire to live for God, and the two became close friends. On Palm Sunday in 1212, her bishop presented Clare with a palm, which she apparently took as a sign. With her cousin Pacifica, Clare ran away from her mother’s palace during the night to enter religious life. She eventually took the veil from Saint Francis at the Church of Our Lady of the Angels in Assisi, Italy.Born
Clare founded the Order of Poor Ladies (Poor Clares) at San Damiano, and led it for 40 years. Everywhere the Franciscans established themselves throughout Europe, there also went the Poor Clares, depending solely on alms, forced to have complete faith on God to provide through people; this lack of land-based revenues was a new idea at the time. Clare’s mother and sisters later joined the order, and there are still thousands of members living lives of silence and prayer.
Clare loved music and well-composed sermons. She was humble, merciful, charming, optimistic, chivalrous, and every day she meditated on the Passion of Jesus. She would get up late at night to tuck in her sisters who’d kicked off their blankets. When she learned of the Franciscan martyrs in Morrocco in 1221, she tried to go there to give her own life for God, but was restrained. Once when her convent was about to be attacked, she displayed the Sacrament in a monstrace at the convent gates, and prayed before it; the attackers left, the house was saved, and the image of her holding a monstrance became one of her emblems. Her patronage of eyes and against their problems may have developed from her name which has overtones from clearness, brightness, brilliance - like healthy eyes.
Toward the end of her life, when she was too ill to attend Mass, an image of the service would display on the wall of her cell; thus her patronage of television. She was ever the close friend and spiritual student of Francis, who apparently led her soul into the light at her death.
Died
Canonized
Name Meaning
- bright; brilliant
- against eye disease
- Assisi, Italy
- embroiderers
- eyes
- for good weather
- gilders
- gold workers
- goldsmiths
- laundry workers
- needle workers
- Santa Clara Indian Pueblo
- telegraphs
- telephones
- television
- television writers
- host
- monstrance
- woman with a monstrance in her hand(s)
- Commercial Links related to Saint Clare
- Gallery of images of Saint Clare of Assisi
- Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate
- Catholic Encyclopedia
- Golden Legend
- Google Directory
- New Catholic Dictionary
- Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints, by Matthew Bunson, Margaret Bunson, and Stephen Bunson
- Saint Clare Church of Assisi
- Wikipedia
Go forth in peace, for you have followed the good road. Go forth without fear, for he who created you has made you holy, has always protected you, and loves you as a mother. Blessed be you, my God, for having created me. - Saint Clare of Assisi
O wondrous blessed clarity of Clare!
In life she shone to a few;
after death she shines on the whole world!
On earth she was a clear light;
Now in heaven she is a brilliant sun.
O how great the vehemence of the
brilliance of this clarity!
On earth this light was indeed kept
within cloistered walls,
yet shed abroad its shining rays;
It was confined within a convent cell,
yet spread itself through the wide world.
- Pope Innocent IV
He, Christ, is the splendor of eternal glory, “the brightness of eternal light, and the mirror without cloud.” Behold, I say, the birth of this mirror. Behold Christ’s poverty even as he was laid in the manger and wrapped in swaddling clothes. What wondrous humility, what marvelous poverty! The King of angels, the Lord of heaven and earth resting in a manger! Look more deeply into the mirror and meditate on his humility, or simply on his poverty. Behold the many labors and sufferings he endured to redeem the human race. Then, in the depths of this very mirror, ponder his unspeakable love which caused him to suffer on the wood of the cross and to endure the most shameful kind of death. The mirror himself, from his position on the cross, warned passers-by to weigh carefully this act, as he said: “All of you who pass by this way, behold and see if there is any sorrow like mine.” Let us answer his cries and lamentations with one voice and one spirit: “I will be mindful and remember, and my soul will be consumed within me.” - from a letter to Blessed Agnes of Prague by Saint Clare of Assisi
MLA Citation
- “Saint Clare of Assisi”. Saints.SQPN.com. 3 April 2010. Web. {today’s date}.
