Prayer: The Heart of Our Life as Poor Clare Sisters
Jesus said that we need to “pray continually” (Lk. 18: 1) This may seem impractical or even impossible for an individual person; but applied to the whole Church it becomes a reality. The clergy and religious, and especially contemplatives are entrusted with this mission of continual prayer. On the day of our Solemn Profession, the Bishop gives us the Book of the Liturgy of the Hours (Breviary) with the responsibility to daily assure this never-ending prayer of the Church. Seven times a day, and even at night, the community gathers to offer to the Lord the praise and thanksgiving, the petitions and intercessions, the supplications and cries of pain and hope of all His children and of all creation; this is the great unceasing prayer of the Church that continues on earth the prayer of Christ Himself. St Clare deeply understood and lived this mission, mentioning it at the beginning of her Rule as the first duty of the sisters.
The Eucharistic Sacrifice is of course the center of our life as it is the climax of the Prayer of the Church, renewing every day Christ’s work of salvation. Both Francis and Clare had a deep devotion to the Eucharist.
But the Liturgical prayer of the community is not the only expression of the Poor Clares’ life of prayer. Clare herself and her sisters were spending hours of silent meditation and adoration every day. In our time-table we have 2 hours of private silent prayer of which one is spent before the Blessed Sacrament.
The longing of being united with Christ by a personal knowledge and love is always present in the heart of a Poor Clare and should, little by little, fill her life. In the same way her desire to intercede for so many of her suffering brothers and sisters, and to extent the Kingdom of God everywhere should increase daily. Prayer for us is not an activity added to others, but it is Life itself.
It was said of St. Francis that “he was not so much a man of prayer but had become prayer itself”. St Clare exhorts us in the Rule, speaking of our manual work:” to be careful not to extinguish the spirit of holy prayer and devotion to which all other things should be subservient. “This is the ideal we all try to reach with the grace of God, in our poor and humble efforts every day.
An Invitation to Join Us in Prayer
We invite you, to enter spiritually into this mystery of prayer. Though we live in an enclosure so that our hearts may remain open to God alone, our prayer is wide open to the world. If you have a special intention, send it to us — we will carry it before the Lord. If you long for deeper union with the Lord, we encourage you to spend even a few minutes each day in adoration, wherever you may be.
As Saint Clare says, “….so that you too may feel what his friends feel as they taste the hidden sweetness that God has reserved for those who love Him.”
