Today, we are invited to reflect on the freedom of total surrender through the luminous example of Saint Clare of Assisi. In today’s passage from the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus calls us to a radical conversion of heart and reminds us that greatness in the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who become humble like children. We live in a society that often measures success by what we accumulate: material possessions, status, security, etc. However, Jesus teaches us today that true abundance begins only when we learn to let go of our pride, our titles, and our need for control, and to imbibe the simple nature of a child.
Childlike Humility
Saint Clare embodied this childlike humility in a beautiful way. Born into wealth and nobility, she chose to renounce everything to embrace “holy poverty,” inspired by the path of Saint Francis of Assisi. Deeply moved by the Lenten preaching of Saint Francis and wishing to imitate the life of radical gospel poverty, the young Clare slipped out of her family’s palace in Assisi in the dead of the night and ran down the hill into the woods to the tiny chapel of the Porziuncola (St. Mary of the Angels), where Saint Francis and his early friars were waiting for her with lit torches. This was how she joined the religious life, abandoning the wealth and status of her aristocratic family. Her choice was not born out of sadness or sheer disobedience to her family.
Rather, Clare understood that by emptying her hands of worldly goods, she could fill her heart with Christ. In her famous letters, Saint Clare spoke eloquently on the importance of this inner freedom, writing: “Gaze upon Him, consider Him, contemplate Him, as you desire to imitate Him.” For Clare, Jesus is a mirror. When we look into the “mirrors of the world”, we often see only our anxieties, our flaws, or our desire for more. But when we gaze into the mirror of Christ, we see our true identity as beloved children of God.
Devotion to the Eucharist
Clare found the strength to live this radical life through her intense devotion to the Eucharist. When her monastery was attacked, she famously did not raise weapons; she raised the Monstrance containing the Blessed Sacrament, trusting entirely in the real presence of Jesus to protect her community. Today, Clare is remembered not because of her family’s wealth, but because of the richness of her exemplary life of total dedication to Jesus through simplicity and holy poverty.
We are called to embrace Clare’s spirituality today, even amidst our busy weekday routines. We need not resign from our work and enter a cloister, but we can make space for God by clearing our minds of superfluous worries. Choose simplicity over consumerism, kindness over judgement, and quiet prayer over constant noise. We can cultivate the holy practice of often stopping by a parish church or a Chapel of Adoration to spend time with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Let us ask, through the intercession of Saint Clare, for the grace of a detached and free heart, confident that when we love Jesus totally in the Eucharist, we possess everything.
