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Be A
Blessing!
Each year in August Poor
Clares joyfully prepare to celebrate the feast of St. Clare of Assisi.
The feast in 2003 marked the end of eighteen months of
commemorating the 750th anniversary of the death of St. Clare
and the approval of her Rule. Form
of Life is the way Clare referred to the Rule; it expresses the wisdom
of Clare at the end of her life. She
and her sisters had spent forty-one years fleshing out the Gospel Life
that Francis had given to them in 1212.
Now it became the legacy she left her sisters.
Another legacy that Clare left to us is her blessing.
She knew the hardships that accompanied the life the sisters had
embraced and therefore knew they needed encouragement.
In the story of her life we read of numerous occasions when Clare
blessed her sisters. If a
sister was ill, Clare made the sign of the cross on her forehead; on
several occasions these sisters were physically healed.
A blessing is a wish for happiness and holiness for another.
To bless someone is to remind her of God’s loving presence and
care, of being chosen by God.
To offer a blessing to another is one of the most significant gifts
we can give.
Blessings are more common than we realize.
Each Sunday at the end of Liturgy, the priest blesses the
congregation in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit, asking God to go with us as we journey through the next week.
In the Old Testament just before a great person, like Moses, Isaac,
or Jacob died, he blessed his eldest son.
In the New Testament, Jesus blessed the little children who came to
him and blessed the apostles as they went forth.
He calls us to bless not only our friends, but also our enemies.
Besides the blessing at the end of Morning and Evening Prayer in
the Liturgy of the Hours, we Poor Clares have a custom of blessing a
sister who leaves the monastery for a particular mission.
Other occasions for
blessings can be: illness, despondency, life changes like graduating or
moving to a new location. How
wonderful it would be if, instead of being critical of others, we would
bless them. All of us tend to be quick to notice when someone does
something that we think is out of order or wrong.
How often do we bless others when they do something well or just to
remind them that God is always present in our midst?
Perhaps, like St. Clare, we can become a blessing for those
around us by our kindness. Here is the blessing Clare left for her sisters
and for all of us.
The Blessing of St. Clare
May
Almighty God bless you.
May God look upon you with the eyes of mercy and give you peace.
Here below may God pour forth graces upon you abundantly
and in heaven may God place you among the saints. Amen.
Sister
Maryalice Pierce
