Vocation Reflections

August 11, 1253, San Damiano monastery outside the walls of Assisi, central Italy. 

The Lady Clare lay dying grasping the copy of her Form of Life signed the day before by Pope Innocent IV. In those final hours she is heard to say, “Praise be to you, Most High, for having created me.” The Lady Clare is 60 years old and has lived life walking in the footprints of Jesus, the Poor Crucified. As she walked, other women joined her at San Damiano and numerous other monasteries throughout Europe. 

They came drawn by her joyful holiness; her total dedication to Gospel living; her love of Jesus born poor in a stable, living without a place to put his head and dying naked upon the cross. 

August 11, 2003, Great Falls, Montana, a continent away and 750 years later. 

Four daughters of this Lady Clare, now known as Saint Clare of Assisi, strive to be faithful to the Form of Life written by Clare and approved by the Pope 750 years ago! These four sisters live in vastly different circumstances on the outside, witness this article written on a computer and submitted for publication over the internet, yet at the core of their life the same total dedication to living the Gospel life. 

This year all of the Franciscan Family, friars, Poor Clares, Brothers and Sisters of St. Francis and members of the Secular Franciscans celebrate this awesome event. Seven hundred fifty years since the death of Saint Clare and the approval of her Rule or Form of Life. What do we celebrate? To answer that question I decided to ask each of the sisters what they celebrate on this anniversary. 

Sister Jane remembers with gratitude, “Clare’s gift of trusting always in God’s care for us, taught to us in her life and in the Form of Life she handed on to us.” Sister Catherine rejoices in, “Clare—talented, strong and radiantly holy—as a leader and guide for my own life journey”. Sister Maryalice celebrates “the gift of Clare’s whole life: her deep love for God and all creation; her faithfulness in her vocation; her ability to inspire others as she lived the Gospel life”. I treasure Clare’s adventurous spirit which led her to choose a way of life unheard of in the church at the time; a spirit that enabled her to be rooted in one very small space while exploring the height, depth and breadth of God’s all good love. 

In order to give the people of Montana an opportunity to join in this wondrous event, the Franciscan Family of Montana will sponsor two gatherings in October, one in Billings and one in Great Falls. It will be a Saturday program open to the public and called, In the Footprints of Jesus: Walking with St. Clare of Assisi. Watch for further publicity and plan to join us. And join us in praying with thanksgiving for the charism of Clare, the gift of the Spirit to the Church, and pray that we never depart from this gift, that it grow and take root in us, the Poor Clares of Montana.

Sister Judith Ann Crosby