Taste the hidden sweetness that God has reserved from the beginning

for those who love Him.  - St. Clare  

A Poor Clare is a woman whose whole being is consecrated to God. Like St. Clare, she is called by God to leave everything and follow the gospel of Jesus. The early Franciscan sources describe the awakening of St. Clare’s vocation:

“Hearing of the then celebrated name of Francis,

who, like a new man was renewing with new virtues

the way of perfection forgotten by the world,

she was moved by the Father of the spirits . . .

and immediately desired to see and hear him.

With only one close companion accompanying her,

the young girl, leaving her paternal home

frequented . . . clandestine meetings

with the man of God,

whose words seemed to her to be on fire

and whose deeds

were seen to be beyond the human.

He whispered in her ears

of a sweet espousal with Christ, persuading her

to preserve the pearl of her virginal purity

for that blessed Spouse Whom Love made man.

Immediately an insight into the eternal joys

was opened to her at whose vision

the world itself would become worthless,

with whose desire she would begin to melt,

for whose love she would begin to yearn

for heavenly nuptials.

Then she committed herself thoroughly

to the counsel of Francis, placing him, after God,

as the guide of her journey.” (The Legend of St. Clare)

Francis and the brothers

receive Clare

Francis clothes Clare

St. Clare was overwhelmed by the realisation that Jesus desired that she live a life of intimate union with Him. This insight filled her with an intense and immediate longing to leave everything and abandon herself totally to Jesus.

“Totally love Him, who gave Himself totally for your love.” (3rd Letter of St. Clare)

The rest of her life was a constant experience of the meaning of the gospel and of Christ’s love for her.

She learned from St. Francis of a new way of gospel life and, along with her sisters, she spent the rest of her life creating an original way of living in the experience of the “perfection” (fullness) of the holy gospel.

Today, a vocation to the Poor Clare life is the same call as St. Clare received. It is a call from God to belong totally to Christ and to follow His footprints, i.e. to live the same kind of life as Jesus lived.

In the companionship of other sisters, a Poor Clare community is like that of Jesus with His first disciples. We are invited to enter into the life of the Trinity by,

•living in the loving care of the Divine providence

•living in the belief that Jesus is risen and lives among us

•living together in the immediate experience of being “…led by the Spirit and the Spirit’s holy activity…” (St. Clare)

St. Clare and the

miracle of the loaves