Saturday, November 5, 2022

For All The Saints: The Poor Clares 2022 C

 For All The Saints: The Poor Clares 

I was once asked, “Why do we pray for the dead – especially on All Saints Day (Nov 1) and All Souls (Nov 2)?” I’m not sure just what I said that day, but the real answer is, “We don’t!” In the service for the Burial of the Dead we say, “For to your faithful people, O Lord, life is changed, not ended…” BCP 392 And as if we may forget, each Sunday after our Confession we are reminded in the absolution, “…and keep you in eternal life.” (BCP 360) We don’t “pass into eternal life” when we die. For we are those people who believe we are already in eternal life – and that we are already called to live in the kingdom of God, here and now. This kingdom, this eternal life,  is a present reality and the promise of a future.

 

On All Hallows Eve, or Halloween, we mock and make fun of death! And on All Saints and All Souls we remember all those whose lives have been changed, not ended, in the eternal life that is the kingdom of God. All Saints in particular remembers those who, each in their own way, walked among us in The Way of Christ. We remember them, literally re-embody them, through the miracle of memory because something about their lives reminds us of how we might learn to  live in the eternal life of the kingdom of God – a very present kingdom that is saturated with the primacy of love.[i]

 

Among those Christians who best embody the love of Christ as outlined in the blessings in Luke 6:20-31 are the Franciscans – those Thirteenth Century followers of Francis of Assisi.

“Blessed are you who are poor,

for yours is the kingdom of God.

“Blessed are you who are hungry now,

for you will be filled.

“Blessed are you who weep now,

for you will laugh.”

 

Francis, the son of a prosperous silk merchant, early in life turned his attention to serving the poor. He had a vision in the chapel of San Damiano when an icon of Christ on the cross spoke to him, “Francis, Francis, repair my church…” Soon after he gathered eleven followers and began a life of poverty, serving the poor, and itinerant preaching. Perhaps one of the most devoted early followers of Francis was a young woman, also from Assisi: Clare, the daughter of a prosperous family. She founded the Order of Poor Ladies in the Franciscan tradition under Francis’s guidance, and wrote the first Rule of Life, monastic guidelines, written by a woman for women. When she died, her community was renamed The Order of Saint Clare, and today is commonly known as the Poor Clares.

 

We should remember that women had little agency in those days, and similar communities of women were being founded all throughout Europe. Clare was an inspiration and support for many of them. Between doing handwork, creating altar linens for churches throughout Italy, providing shelter for the poor, and health care for those in need, Clare also corresponded with these other women living in community, imparting Franciscan practices and guidelines, but most of all, providing pastoral support as all these women faced opposition throughout their lives of living in the Way of Christ.

 

Clare was known as “the mirror saint” because she would draw deep insights from her contemplation and reflection on the cross of Christ. Clare would write to Agnes of Prague, herself the daughter of the king of Bohemia who had turned away from the life of a princess to serve the poor. “Gaze into this mirror [of the cross] every day, and constantly see your own face reflected in it, so that you might be adorned with virtues within and without…for in that mirror shine blessed poverty, holy humility, and love beyond words.”  [ii]

 

To another woman, Ermentrude, who lived in in a Belgian community of women, she wrote, “Be faithful, dearest, to the one to whom you are promised until death. By Him you will be crowned with the laurels of life. For our labor is short, but the reward is eternal; do not be confounded by the clamour of a world as fleeting shadows. Let not the empty spectres of a deceitful world torment you.” [iii] All three of these women lived in a world of warfare, chaos, turmoil, and where women were largely treated as property. Their courage to live a life with Christ, in poverty, was driven by the primacy of God’s love as central in all that they did. And most importantly, Clare, after the death of Francis, provided steady guidance not only for her community, but also for those communities of men Francis had founded, preserving the Franciscan life in Christ as Francis had taught her. It is no exaggeration to say that Franciscan communities of men and women thrive around the world to this day!

 

Because Clare, Agnes of Prague, Ermentrude and so many other women of the Poor Clares chose love in all aspects of their lives, we have examples to inspire us to seek love in all aspects of our own lives. “If love really is the truth of our existence,” writes Ilia Delio, “and the truth of God, then may we not aim to meet the minimum requirements of love; rather, let us love to the point of tears. Let us breathe in the pain of the world and breathe out the goodness of love, letting go in love, from the simplest act of gratitude, to caring for another, or perhaps risking our lives for a stranger – or better yet – loving our enemy. For every act of love is a personalization of God, and when God is born through our lives, heaven unfolds on earth. All that we long for and anticipate becomes a reality in this moment, in the here and now, in every particular act of love.” [iv]

 

May we embrace and embody the kingdom of God, eternal life, here and now, as the Poor Clares did 800 years ago. Eternal life, as a present reality and promise of a future, is love – the love reflected in the mirror in which we see ourselves, our true self, as we contemplate and gaze upon the cross of Christ, “…for in that mirror shine blessed poverty, holy humility, love beyond words – by the Grace of God – you can contemplate in the whole mirror.”[v] This is why we pray for the dead, the community of Saints – they remind us of who we are, and whose we are, and in their lives of eternal faith, hope and love, they pray for us to gaze into that mirror and choose love in all aspects of our lives, now and forever. Amen.

 

 [i] Delio, Ilia, The Primacy of Love (Fortress Press, Minneapolis: 2022)

[ii] Downing, Sr. Frances Teresa, OSC, (Tau Publishing, Phoenix, AZ; 2012) pp. 85-86.

[iii] Ibid Downing, p. 101.

[iv] Ibid, Delio, p. 82.

[v] Ibid, Downing.

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