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| "I,
together with my Sisters…" So does St. Clare express her
spiritual journey: not as a solitary walk toward God, but a
pilgrimage to our heavenly homeland made in the company of others.
There is a certain "togetherness" in the Poor Clare form
of monastic life. We are together for meals, together for prayer,
our work is often done together too. Of course, we also have our
times of solitude, and our silence ensures that our togetherness
does not disturb our communion with the One who dwells within our
hearts. The cloister creates an intensity in our relationships
with one another, for even in our solitary moments, we are never
far from each other. We learn to bear our sister's physical and
emotional burdens, to heal the inevitable conflicts with words of
love. When St. Clare exhorted us to keep silence, she added that
we may always say what is necessary. Thus, asking and receiving
forgiveness never breaks silence, nor the needed gift of
encouragement or comfort in times of sorrow. |
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Who is
my Sister?
She is the reflection of the Love that never fails. The mirror
wherein I can contemplate the expanse of God's desire for mankind,
for each person, for me. She is my staff on the long pilgrimage
through life. |
| Clare
of Assisi knew Christ was calling her to solitude; she knew he was
calling her to sisterhood. These are not contradictories. Rather
they are the two indispensable doorposts leading into the mystery
that is the raison d'etre of all solitude and sisterhood: the
living and true God is a Father, our Father. |
| This
God, who is the creative source of all that exists, is eternally a
source within the Trinity itself. There the Father is the source
of the Word which he speaks and the Breath which he breathes. He
is the source of communion, for his Son is wholly
"toward" him, offering in his reflected glory all that
he is and all that the Father has "begotten" in him; the
Father's Spirit is wholly "from" him, and by his
acceptance gives back the gift which he is. In the communion of
the Blessed Trinity no person is named for himself. There is
neither "in itself" nor "for itself". In the
communion of the living God the mystery of each person is to be
for the other: "O! Thou!" Each person is gift and
acceptance of gift; each is an élan that is enamored of the Other
but in pure transparency; each is joy given gratuitously and
accepted freely. |
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This
is the fount of Franciscan sisterhood. This is the mystery that is
our foundation and our joy. Clare cast it in a feminine mold when
she wrote: If a mother love and nurture her daughter according to
the flesh, how much more ought a sister to love and nurture her
sister according to the Spirit! |
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