Today, Father Steve offers his homily for the Feast of St. Clare of Assisi, a contemporary and friend of St. Francis who conformed herself to a life of voluntary poverty for the service of Christ.
Saint Clare, whose feast the Church celebrates today, was born into a wealthy family in the year 1193.
When she was eighteen years old, a charismatic wonderworker by the name of Francis came to preach a series of Lenten sermons at the church of St. Girogio in the town of Assisi. Clare was cut to the heart by Francis’ words and literally left behind everything to enact in her own life Francis’ call to embrace evangelical poverty.
Clare’s commitment to Francis’ spiritual vision would blossom into a community of sisters who would serve as a sisterly counterpart to Francis’ spiritual brotherhood. Clare and her sisters would accept nothing that would diminish her commitment to evangelical poverty. She and her sisters would share all things in common. They would sleep on the ground and would not even accept sandals for their feet...