Many of us know the story of this young woman who fell in love with the way of life and the teachings of Saint Francis of Assisi. Her story would inspire millions and is the foundation for the Poor Clares, officially the “Order of Saint Clare.” This way of life means owning nothing. No property. No wealth. Living entirely off the alms and donations given by local people. Relying entirely on God. What on earth could inspire a 17-year-old girl, a beautiful young woman with many suitors, to give up all that and live in a monastery? After hearing St. Francis of Assisi preach, she ran away from home to join him and his friars. Even when her family came to try and force her to “come to her senses,” everyone saw that her dedication to poverty and holiness was sincere, and the entire movement began.
What was it about poverty that could inspire her and countless others to follow this way of life? It’s so foreign to the way society encourages us to be now. We’ve all seen the shortages of goods during the pandemic, people storing extra food and toiletries. Buying in bulk, shopping with coupons to get thousands of dollars of products for nearly free, stocking our pantries and fridges with food that often just ends up being wasted. So I want to share with you this quote about Lady Poverty in the book “From The Way of St. Francis: the Challenge of Franciscan Spirituality for Everyone.”
“The Illusive Lady Poverty. This woman, who rose from the depths of his own unconscious, pointed the way to a life that he had hitherto not even imagined. She is always just ahead, appearing and disappearing from sight. She cannot be possessed because she is the personification of dispossession. She is the way and the destination, the consummation and the deprivation simultaneously. And her voice, deep within Francis, beckons him ever on into God by a way already imprinted within the footsteps of her first lovers: I was once in the Paradise of my God, where people walked naked; in fact, I walked in them and with them in their nakedness through the most splendid Paradise, fearing nothing, doubting nothing, and suspecting no evil. I thought that I would be with them forever, for the Most High created them just, good, and wise and placed them in that pleasant and beautiful place. I rejoiced exceedingly and played before them all the while, for possessing nothing, they belonged entirely to God.”
This is what Matthew 19 Is talking about. That last line “possessing nothing, they belonged entirely to God.” Jesus this morning says, “And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life.” Relying entirely on God is hard to do if we already have everything we think we need. The poor, the people who have nothing, the ones who actually have to rely on God, well as the Gospels say, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs!”
Now, not everyone is called to poverty. Not everyone is called to give up everything and go live in a monastery. But all of us are called to a radical detachment from our reliance on things and a complete and utter surrender to God. What inspired Clare about Francis and his friars was that “they belonged entirely to God.” That’s what we need. That’s the one thing our hearts should be longing for. Everything else, as Saint Paul says this morning, we should consider just rubbish. So how do we do that living among the world with our responsibilities, our houses, our families, and all the things we have to take care of? Well, while most of us can’t retreat to some monastery in the mountains, we can retreat to the silence of the inner cave in our hearts. We can receive the Sacraments frequently, reverently, worthily. We can begin by living spiritual poverty where our own wants and needs are supplanted by God and others.
I believe our challenge today is simply this: to increase our reliance on God, our trust in Him, by turning something over to Him. Saint Clare turned it all over, and it inspired tens of thousands of women to rely solely on God. So it’s a good practice for us to turn over some extra time. Maybe go to Mass one more time this week than we normally do. Start a practice of regularly going to confession, even when we think we don’t need it. Another good idea is to spend a few minutes at the end of our day, doing some sort of examination of conscience and reading the Gospel for the next day or for the weekend. That way, we can start to live our lives focusing on Christ, trying to match our heartbeat and our spiritual longings with the heartbeat of His Bride, the Church. Because in the end, the only thing we need, and the only thing that will give us that promised inheritance of eternal life, is Him in our hearts and as Lord of our lives. Saint Clare fell deeper and deeper in love with Jesus in the Eucharist until He was all that she desired and longed for. We need to do the same.
A reflection on the readings for the Memorial of Saint Clare, virgin: August 11th, 2021