“I bend my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that through the prayers and merits of the glorious and holy Virgin Mary, His Mother, and of our most blessed Father Francis and all the Saints, the Lord Himself Who has given us a good beginning will also give the increase and constant perseverance to the end. Amen”
Testament of St. Clare no. 23
Mother St. Clare
Saint Clare , Her name means “Light” or “the shining one”.She is the mother of our Order which she called the “Order of the Poor Sisters”, now known as the Order of St Clare or the Poor Clare Sisters.
She lived in Assisi, central Italy, in the 13th Century and was inspired to begin her religious life by the example and advice of St Francis , a fellow citizen of Assisi who had been converted to a life of total poverty , following Jesus , spreading the love, peace and joy of the Gospel everywhere.
She chose to lead that Gospel life in the monastery of San Damiano where, very soon, many young girls and ladies came to join her. From the cloister, the light of her holiness shone and spread and a great number of monasteries were founded through Italy and other countries.
Today the Poor Clare Sisters are in all continents of the world and number around 20,000. In Africa there are about 35 monasteries.
Who we are
The Order of St. Clare whose members are known as Poor Clares (or Sisters of St. Clare) has been in existence for more than 800 years.
Poor Clares or Daughters of St. Clare are nuns whom God in his Mercy has called to embrace the Life of the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, following in the footprints of St. Clare who, in her own turn took St. Francis of Assisi as “planter and mentor” in her total self-offering to Jesus Christ who is the WAY to the Father.
Like our Mother and Foundress, St. Clare of Assisi, we desire above all else to imitate the way of simplicity, humility and poverty as we were taught from the beginning of our conversion by Christ and our blessed father Francis” (Test.56-57)
Our Life of Prayer
We live a life wholly centered on prayer. Hidden with Christ in the cloister, we keep watch in silence and love, bringing the joys, sorrows, and needs of humanity to him in prayer and everything we do and think about.
Daily Liturgy
Select date
Thursday of the Twenty-third week in Ordinary Time
First Letter to the Corinthians 8,1b-7.11-13.
If anyone supposes he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.
But if one loves God, one is known by him.
So about the eating of meat sacrificed to idols: we know that "there is no idol in the world," and that "there is no God but one."
Indeed, even though there are so-called gods in heaven and on earth (there are, to be sure, many "gods" and many "lords"),
yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom all things are and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things are and through whom we exist.
But not all have this knowledge. There are some who have been so used to idolatry up until now that, when they eat meat sacrificed to idols, their conscience, which is weak, is defiled.
Thus through your knowledge, the weak person is brought to destruction, the brother for whom Christ died.
When you sin in this way against your brothers and wound their consciences, weak as they are, you are sinning against Christ.
Therefore, if food causes my brother to sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I may not cause my brother to sin.
Psalms 139(138),1-3.13-14ab.23-24.
you know when I sit and when I stand;
you understand my thoughts from afar.
My journeys and my rest you scrutinize,
with all my ways you are familiar.
Truly you have formed my inmost being;
you knit me in my mother's womb.
I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made;
wonderful are your works.
Probe me, O God, and know my heart;
try me, and know my thoughts;
See if my way is crooked,
and lead me in the way of old.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 6,27-38.
bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic.
Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.
And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same.
If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit (is) that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, and get back the same amount.
But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
Be merciful, just as (also) your Father is merciful.
Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you."
Copyright © Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, USCCB
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