Virtue: Community
Resolution: I choose to journey with other believers to participate in the mission of God.

Human Story: St. Clare of Assisi (1194 – 1253)

Born Chiara Offreduccio to a wealthy family in the Italian town of Assisi, St. Clare is known for forsaking all the worldly pleasures that could have rightfully been hers. Instead, she chose to live a life of poverty and service. Clare was very pious from a young age, but at 18, after hearing Francis of Assisi speak during a church service, Clare decided that she should enter the religious life. Her father wished her to marry instead, so Clare secretly left her home at night, and went to meet with Francis and some of his followers. In a small chapel, Francis exchanged her fine clothes for the plain clothes of a nun’s habit as well as cutting her hair for her entry into a Benedictine convent. Her father attempted to forcefully remove her, but she refused to leave, and so he relented.

Francis provided a small section of his home church, San Damiano, as a place for her, her sister, and others who wished to live apart from the world in simplicity and service to the Lord. There she formed the Order of the Poor Ladies and, at only 21 years old, became their first abbess. The Ladies, or Clares as they later became known, lived in a community of extreme austerity, devoting themselves only to prayer, work in the convent, and service to each other and those in need in the community. This type of ascetic life seems overly extreme by modern standards, but to Clare it was necessary to create a community wholly apart from the world and completely devoted to living as examples of Christ, in humility serving “the least of these.” 

Clare herself was first to serve where needed, whether it was caring for the sick and needy that came to the convent or washing her fellow sisters’ feet as they went barefoot performing their various duties. Although Clare was in a position which would have provided her with some measure of comfort, she worked tirelessly for the good of her order and the surrounding community, and even to St. Francis himself, who often turned to her for advice and encouragement due to her steadfast devotion.

Clare’s love for her community was so great and her faith so strong, that twice when Assisi was under siege from an invading army, Clare’s actions led to those armies fleeing. One account says she stood before the invaders bearing an element of the Eucharist and caused retreat. Another says she gathered the Ladies together telling them, “Don’t be afraid. Trust in Jesus.” She prayed “I beseech you, dear Lord, protect these whom I am now unable to protect.” Miraculously, the army left without attacking the city or convent. Clare even had to stand against the pope who, thinking he knew best how the Ladies should live, tried to change the rules of Clares order. Clare was adamant that her sisters live in the life of self-sacrifice they chose. Faced with such determination, Pope Gregory IX (and Pope Innocent IV after him) gave the Clares official permission to continue as they had. Long after her death, the town of Assisi, and the Order of Poor Clares still hold St. Clare as one of the highest examples of love and devotion to Jesus Christ and to community.

Resources:
https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-clare-of-assisi/
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04004a.htm
https://cloisteredlife.com/poor-clares

Lesson: Hebrews 10:24-25 (ESV)

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Our participation in the mission of God requires that we be in communion with other believers; we cannot do it alone. Our lesson this week reminds us of the importance of gathering together. It is in that gathering and journeying together, where we find encouragement and accountability to live as those who mirror Christ. For this reason, it is hard to overstate the importance the New Testament gives to gathering and being a part of the body of Christ. As the writer of Hebrews indicates, our meeting together is where two great elements of Christian life are brought together: love and good works.

The central vocation or calling of the Christian life is to love God with all that we are and love our neighbors as ourselves. As we are anchored in a thriving community of faith, we are equipped to live out this two-sided vocation. In our fellowship with others, we find friends who will “bear our burdens” (Gal 6.2), encourage us, and “build us up” (1 Thess 5.11).  Through an authentic sharing of life, we too love others by bearing with them and we can truly “rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep” (Rom 12.15). And as we gather together, we are able to emulate the first disciples by attending to the teachings of Christ and the apostles, through table fellowship, and by earnestly praying for one another (Acts 2.42). It is in that gathering together that God has called and enabled a diversity of fellow believers “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Eph 4.11-12). Indeed, we need each other if we are going to attain mature faith, which faith is secure, grounded in love for God and others, and oriented to participate in Christ’s work of “making all things new” (Eph 4.13-16; Rev 21.5).

The witness of the New Testament is clear: we are enabled to live out our calling to love and do good works only through sincere connection to the Spirit-empowered community of faith. This is why our fellowship with other believers is essential to our work as ambassadors of Christ carrying out the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor 5.18-20). And, so, we resolve to “choose to journey with other believers to participate in the mission of God.”

Remembrance

We become what we love and who we love shapes what we become. If we love things, we become a thing. If we love nothing, we become nothing. Imitation is not a literal mimicking of Christ, rather it means becoming the image of the beloved, an image disclosed through transformation. This means we are to become vessels of God's compassionate love for others. ― St. Clare of Assisi

Challenge

Saint Clare lived a life of simplicity which allowed her to serve the needs of others. The spiritual discipline of simplicity encourages us to remove those things that hinder us. Once these hinderances are eliminated, we are able to better recognize and respond to the needs of those around us. Think about the clutter in your life and make steps this week toward reducing or eliminating one of these hinderances. Here are some possibilities:

• Physical clutter in your home (too much stuff – clothes, books, mail, paper, photos, etc.)

• Too many commitments/activities

• Attitudes of pride, selfishness, control, etc.

• Spending beyond your means

Reflection

I do believe in simplicity. It is astonishing as well as sad, how many trivial affairs even the wisest thinks he must attend to in a day; how singular an affair he thinks he must omit. When the mathematician would solve a difficult problem, he first frees the equation of all encumbrances, and reduces it to its simplest terms. So simplify the problem of life, distinguish the necessary and the real. — Henry David Thoreau

Further Growth:

2021: First Sunday of Advent

Old Testament: Zephaniah 14:1-9
Psalm: Psalm 50
New Testament: 1 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Gospel: Luke 21:25-33

2020: Book of Common Prayer Proper 29

Old Testament: Ezekiel 34:11-20
Psalm: Psalm 95
New Testament: 1 Corinthians 15:20-28
Gospel: Matthew 25:31-46