Bethlehem Monastery of Poor Clares
Summer, 2012
Go forth securely, my blessed soul, for you have a good conductor for your journey.
Our dear Friends,
These words of our Holy Mother Clare were spoken on her deathbed, but they could just as easily have been in her heart 40 years before as she stole down the dark halls of her parental home towards the heavily barricaded “Door of the Dead.” That midnight in March of 1212 she had been almost alone, accompanied only by a trusted friend as she made her way down the hill to the little chapel of St. Mary of the Angels to put her entire life into the Hands of Christ her Spouse. How often she could have spoken so throughout her life, beginning with the day after her flight from home when she went forth to confront her irate uncles and bared her tonsured head. There was likewise the day in 1240 as the Saracen armies were scaling the walls of the monastery when she went to the door of the refectory and, prostrate in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, received His promise that He would always take care of her.
That promise He has faithfully kept through all the ages, most of the time in less dramatic fashion and often simply by showing special tokens of His Love. One example of this latter was the special letter our Holy Father Pope Benedict wrote to commemorate the 800th anniversary of our Holy Mother Clare’s profession. He sent it to the Bishop of Assisi for the celebration of Palm Sunday, April 1st this year. Among other things, he remarked how
Francis saw clearly the reason for suggesting to Clare that she run away from home at the beginning of Holy Week. The whole of the Christian life – hence also the life of special consecration – is a fruit of the Paschal Mystery and of participation in Christ’s death and Resurrection. The themes of sadness and glory, interwoven in the Palm Sunday liturgy, will be developed in the successive days through the darkness of the Passion to the light of Easter. With her decision Clare relives this mystery. She receives the programme for it, as it were, on Palm Sunday. She then enters the drama of the Passion, forfeiting her hair and, with it, renouncing her whole self in order to be a bride of Christ in humility and poverty… The story of Clare, with that of Francis, is an invitation to reflect on the meaning of life and to seek the secret of true joy in God. It is a concrete proof that those who do the Lord’s will and trust in Him alone lose nothing; on the contrary, they find the true treasure that can give meaning to all things.
Our own Holy Week was graced this year by the presence of Father Robert McCreary, O.F.M.Cap., religious assistant to our Federation of Poor Clares. What a gift for this jubilee year to have a Franciscan friar with us for the Sacred Triduum – he himself said it was a miracle of divine Providence! It was also wonderful preparation for the triennial Chapter of our federated monasteries which was hosted this year by our community in Los Altos Hills, California. The adventures of our Mother Abbess and sister delegate to and from said gathering were yet another proof of Our Lord’s fidelity to His promise to always take care of us. There was just so much evidence of His guiding (and guarding!) hand.
Nor was His Mother very far away. In early May we received a call from a young woman whose uncle is part of the National Apostolate of Our Lady of Fatima, asking if we would like to have a visit from the National Pilgrim Virgin statue. Since Mother Abbess was out in California, we could give no definite answer. Shortly after she returned, negotiations were resumed, with the result that Our Lady came to us on May 25 around noon – the hour she had come to the three shepherd children – and remained until after Mass the following day. Oh, she is lovely! She is lovely. Would that we could tell you…but perhaps you have seen her too?
One of the intentions we placed at Our Lady’s feet that day was the political situation in our country, particularly the issue of religious freedom. A few weeks later, we joined our bishops and millions of others in the Fortnight of Prayer that began on June 21, the eve of the feast of Sts. John Fisher and Thomas More. We wonder if any of them knew it was also the eve of “Voto Day” – the “Feast of the Vow” in the city of Assisi, which was instituted to commemorate the deliverance of the city from invading armies twice by the prayers of our Holy Mother Clare and her sisters. We think it highly significant that both times it was to the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament that they turned for help. And so, at this critical time in our country, we invite you to join us especially on Sundays for sung Vespers at 3:30 p.m., followed by the Rosary and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, to pray for deliverance from the forces of evil that would like to destroy our nation and all it stands for. By the way, amongst our various observances for July 4th, we sang all the verses of our national anthem. Did you notice that in the last verse we “praise the Power that has made and preserved us a nation”?
Last, but not least of the news around here is the return of our upcoming novena in preparation for the Feast of our Mother St. Clare to its own special time in the evenings of the first week of August. That’s right – in honor of the conclusion of the Centenary Year commemorating the 800th anniversary of her consecration to Christ, we will be holding special services at 7:00 each evening from August 2 to her feast-day August 11/12 (our celebration covers both days). We invite you to join us as we invoke her powerful intercession for each of your special needs and intentions. Surely the answers from the Lord of her heart will be as abundant as the flowers making happy riot on the slopes of Mt. St. Francis these days.
MONASTERY EVENTS 2012
Sundays (all year) Vespers (booklets provided), Rosary, Benediction 3:30 p.m.
August 2 – 10 Novena in honor of our Holy Mother St. Clare 7:00 each evening
August 11 Solemnity of our Holy Mother St. Clare Morning Mass 8:00 a.m.