SHE WAS HIS FRIEND

Memorial of St. Clare

Mt 16:24-28

We have a saying, “Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are.” This is a good maxim to live by. Be careful with whom you associate with. Choose your friends well.

Clare was Italian by birth. She was born in 1193. Though coming from a well-to-do family, Clare left everything and lived a life of poverty and penance. She had a deep devotion to the Holy Eucharist and is said to have saved her city from invading barbarians by raising the Blessed Sacrament over them. Thus, her statue clad in a nun’s habit with the Blessed Sacrament. She founded a religious order for women that followed strict monastic rules, particularly those pertaining to penance and poverty. After a holy and austere life, she passed away in 1253.

Clare was an intimate friend of St. Francis of Assisi who followed the Lord Jesus all the way.
Need we say more?