St. Clare of Assisi: Mirror of Divine Light and Contemplative Pioneer

Introduction

St. Clare of Assisi (1194-1253) represents an enormous beacon in Catholic spirituality and her life illustrates what suffering through poverty, contemplation and living in God’s spirit means to women today and continues to inspire women nearly 800 hundred years after her death.

As well as being the first female author of a Monastic Rule, Clare also founded the Order of the Poor Clares, and served as one of the closest companions to St. Francis. Clare changed the meaning of a cloistered life by creating an avenue for women to develop a relationship with God through mystical contemplation. Her prayers consisted of an intense meditation using the image of the crucified Christ, extremely stimulated and devoted to the Eucharist, and having a series of experiences where the divine light overwhelmed her. It is with these experiences that Clare is recognized as a mystic, reformer and spiritual mother to countless people who desire to unite with God .

From Nobility to Gospel Poverty: Clare’s Radical Choice

Clare was born into one of the wealthiest families in Assisi, thus her entire life was dedicated to living with luxury, social status and marriage. Yet since she was a young girl, Clare felt called to a life of prayer and following the example of Christ. Clare heard St. Francis preach many times on radical poverty, simplicity, and total devotion to Christ, and something about his preaching ignited a fire in Clare’s soul. It was on Palm Sunday, 1212, when Clare made a choice that shocked her family and changed the course of Christian spirituality forever! Clare in the middle of the night left her father’s home and followed St. Francis to commit herself to the way Francis preached the Gospel.

After Clare had left her father’s home, St. Francis cut off her hair, put a rough tunic on her, and left her with a group of nuns until a more suitable place could be found for her. After St. Francis had prepared Clare for religious life, her family attempted to retrieve her by force and trained soldiers to surround the altar at San Damiano to try to take her back. However, Clare would not give up her passion for God, and when the soldiers attempted to forcibly remove Clare from the altar, she held tightly to the altar, showing her short hair as proof of her dedication and vow of virginity; and her determination to follow Jesus was unequivocal. Clare chose to take on a life of poverty, humility, contemplation, and freedom—just as Jesus lived.

Clare’s firm belief that the path to holiness is achieved through a radical break with worldly security was her guiding principle in her prayer life. Clare had let go of everything that could possibly distract her from concentrating solely on God.

Clare, along with her growing community of women including her mother and sisters, began to establish themselves in San Damiano, the small church that St. Francis had built with his hands, and Clare spent her remaining forty-two years of her earthly journey in isolation from the world focused on continual prayer, penance, and contemplating God through loving surrender to Christ.

Her choice to remain in total physical isolation was not an escape from the outside world, but an entrance to a more profound reality—the inner life of God’s presence in all people, and this inner life supports all other forms of Christian witness.

The Privilege of Poverty: Foundation for Contemplation

The most distinctive contribution that Clare made as a woman is her lifelong commitment to “absolute poverty.” While most religious communities own property in common, and members do not own property, Clare’s desire was to have her communities own absolutely nothing; thus she wanted her members to be dependent on the Lord’s providence for all needs (through public begging for daily sustenance). Clare sought papal approval for this “Privilege of Poverty” for almost her entire life, and the day before she died, Pope Innocent IV granted her request.

Clare viewed poverty not just as an external material lack, but rather as a personal interior state of being, providing Clare with an optimal foundation to practice contemplation. By owning nothing, Clare no longer had to deal with mental distractions, making calculations, and forming attachments to things that would clutter her mind and keep her from remaining focused on God. Clare’s practice of absolute poverty simplified and clarified her consciousness thus allowing Clare to perceive God’s presence within her; as such, Clare’s lifestyle of poverty created greater space in her soul for contemplative prayer than all of the other ascetical practices Clare practiced.

Clare viewed poverty as identification with Christ who, “though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor.” Clare’s meditation on Jesus Christ’s poverty—being born in a stable, having no place to lay his head throughout his life and dying naked on the cross—has always led Clare to the realization that the external material lack of poverty mirrored the internal spiritual lack of openness to receive God. Clare stated that we should “follow the footprints of him who became poor for us,” seeing in evangelical poverty not deprivation but liberation.

This radical lifestyle of poverty established Clare’s complete dependence upon God, thus creating the environment for Clare to develop total trust in God and to live a life of continual surrender and abandonment to God’s will through contemplation. Clare could not plan for tomorrow and had no source of support/financial security; therefore, she depended upon God for daily sustenance moment-by-moment. This continual awareness of God’s presence confirmed Clare’s need for God and continued to cultivate Clare’s receptivity to God’s will—the quality of receptivity characterizing a contemplative soul. Thus, for Clare, poverty was not merely an ideal, but a lived experience in which Clare’s consciousness was transformed in its understanding of God and was foundational for Clare as she prayed.

The Mirror Metaphor: Gazing at Divine Beauty

In her letters to Blessed Agnes of Prague, who renounced her castle for Gospel poverty and like Clare is a noblewoman, Clare presents one of her most meaningful insights concerning mystical theology. Clare presents to Agnes the example of a mirror so that Agnes may “gaze upon, consider, contemplate, and desire to imitate” Christ revealed through the mirror of contemplation.

Clare understands contemplative prayer to be a mirror-like experience in which one sees the divine beauty. The mirror reflects and reveals the person of Jesus Christ as the one who reveals the nature of God and our deepest sense of self. By gazing upon Christ, particularly the crucified Christ, we see both who God is and who we are to be. The mirror reveals to the gazer divine poverty, humility, and charity, transforming the gazer to be like himself.

Clare’s description of the image of gazing upon the mirror captures her deep psychological insight for transforming gazers through contemplation. The mind looks into the mirror of eternity, placing the soul in the glory of heaven, and the heart in the figure of the essence of God. This is not a casual glance at a small image, but sustained attention with love over time that continues to transform the gazer. The more we behold the glory of Christ the more we are also becoming like what we see.

The mirror metaphor suggests that contemplation holds up to us a reciprocal view. In gazing upon Christ, he gazes back upon us. Contemplative prayers provide both God’s and humankind’s view of love through contemplation. Through contemplation, we know we are seen, understood and loved by the One for whom we are gazing.

The mirror image can be interpreted in a progressive manner corresponding to the progress of prayer. First, look to the border of the mirror for Christ’s poverty and humility through his birth. Secondly, examine the surface of the mirror, which reveals Christ’s days of labor and deprivation. The depth of the mirror reflects Christ’s charity through his crucifixion. Lastly, Christ hanging upon the cross demonstrates both the glorious splendor that is beyond any person’s comprehension, and how the mirror of the cross possesses an image of infinite glory. Each stage of the gaze reveals new depths to the gazer, inviting deeper encounters and ever deepening into the mystery of God.

Eucharistic Contemplation: The Heart of Clare’s Prayer

The central element of Clare’s contemplative experience was the Eucharist. Even though she lived in utter seclusion, and very seldom left San Damiano, Clare tried to attend Mass daily, and would often spend long hours in adoration in front of the Blessed Sacrament. The Eucharist was not merely a devotional practice for Clare; it was the chief way of experiencing Christ mystically.

In Clare’s eucharistic devotion, she sustained her loving gaze toward the presence of Christ in the consecrated host. She would frequently kneel for hours in the chapel, gazing at the giant monstrance with a fervor that to observers, her face radiated with light. She was not merely remembering Christ or thinking of Christ; she was encountering the risen Christ in the sacramental reality, available for intimate communion. In eucharistic contemplation, Clare encapsulated the distance of time and eternity, and thus was both a source and means of embrace with the risen Lord.

In example, Clare’s eucharistic faith was reaffirmed by miraculous events. When Saracen soldiers attacked San Damiano in 1240, threatening to breach the convent walls, Clare had herself placed on the threshold of the convent, holding the Blessed Sacrament as a weapon of faith. When she prayed for God’s protection, the Saracen soldiers fled in terror. Again in 1241, in response to the siege of Assisi by the army of Vitale d’Aversa, Clare gathered her sisters in prayer and in front of the Blessed Sacrament for protection, and Assisi was spared. These examples point to Clare’s faith in the genuine presence of Christ in the Eucharist to possess greater power than any earthly army.

The imagery of the Eucharist shaped Clare’s understanding of the effect of transformation. As the Eucharistic bread and wine become the true body and blood of Christ through consecration, the contemplative soul is transformed to the likeness of Christ through communion. Thus, the Eucharist was in itself both an example and instrument of how mystical union occurs—how the accidents of the substances of bread and wine are transformed through communion with God to become the true essence of Christ, the living God.

Through Clare’s example of the Eucharist, we see an example for a contemporary seeker to have an actual focal point for developing a life of contemplation. Because the present-day culture is filled with distractions and spiritual consumerism, Clare’s practice of concentrating all of her energy, time and effort in love and attention to Christ’s eucharistic presence—not requiring any other goals, methodologies or techniques—can serve as an encouragement that simplicity is what modern man needs most. Clare gives witness to the reality that an individual does not have to have any special training or knowledge in order to contemplate and encounter God; simply to be present to Him, gaze upon Him and receive His grace is sufficient for spiritual growth.

The Prayer of Enclosure: Creating Sacred Space

Clare’s commitment to a strict enclosure was not the same as an imprisonment, but it allowed Clare to create a sacred environment for developing a contemplative life. Clare chose to decrease interaction with people and other distractions, thereby, establishing a place for prayer to develop and flourish. The walls of the convent at San Damiano were a threshold between heaven and earth; rather than confining Clare, they served as a threshold between the two spaces.

By creating an enclosed garden, Clare was able to create a pattern of prayer throughout her day based on recognition of the presence of God. With the Liturgy of the Hours marking each hour with a set time for communal prayer (Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline), Clare and her sisters developed a constant memory of the Psalms and a consciousness of praying and meditating on the Scriptures. The continual cycle of hours assisted Clare and her sisters to avoid falling into the trap of making contemplative prayer a matter of chance, or dependent on how the person was feeling at that time, and, thus, established a pattern to develop contemplative depth.

In addition to the Liturgy of the Hours, Clare set aside considerable time to personal contemplation during the night. Often when the entire community was asleep, Clare was on her knees in the chapel engaging in prayer for hours. Many individuals who saw Clare during those times would say she appeared as if she were in a deep trance due to her attentiveness to God, and all distractions or basic discomforts appeared secondary to her, so that she seemed to have left her body. Experiencing night watches reveals the level of desire Clare had for God beyond any time-frame in which one has been scheduled to pray, as her desire was so intense, it overflowed into uncontrolled hours of solitude.

Through her rule, Clare contends that all sisters shall observe silence, as a means to encourage the development of contemplation. The rule of silence limited excessive speech, by ensuring that interior silence was not violated by unnecessary distractions, and by providing space for pursuing a deeper level of awareness of fullness, being able to hear the voice of God, respond to God’s grace, as well as allowing the Holy Spirit to pray through individuals when there are no words or thoughts to form prayer. Clare recognized that in order to develop an atmosphere of contemplation, it was necessary to limit all external and internal distractions to maintain an atmosphere for developing silence, a discipline which requires a continued surrendering of ego.

The physical space of San Damiano was conducive to cultivating contemplation. As it was intended as a place of great simplicity, without the distractions of abundance or luxury, it served as a physical reflection of interior poverty for contemplation. It was in the chapel where Clare first experienced her conversion, after hearing the voice of Christ from the crucifix. It is also the same garden where she and her sisters worked in collaboration with God as they grew the fruits of the Spirit by collaborating and participating in the creation of life. Everything in the environment was designed and configured for continued recognition of God’s presence.

Contemplating Christ Crucified: The Center of Clare’s Vision

Like Francis, Clare’s contemplation was focused on Christ’s crucifixion. The Cross of Christ is the primary mystery in Clare’s vision and all other mysteries are understood through the lens of the Cross. Clare found both the revelation of God’s love and the way to live out her Christian discipleship through Christ’s self-emptying love on Calvary.

Clare’s meditation included all the aspects of the crucifixion of Christ; His nakedness represented the poverty of Clare’s aspiration, His wounds depicted the vulnerability of love, His thirst was a manifestation of God’s longing for the soul, His cry for help illustrated trust in the dark days of life, and His final commendation is a model of total surrender to the will of the Father. These aspects of the crucifixion were exemplified for Clare through her contemplation.

Clare did not see the suffering of Christ simply as morbid suffering, but she understood it as the high cost of love. Clare viewed the love shown to humanity in the Passion as the lengths to which God has gone to embrace the human race, overcoming the alienation caused by sin. The suffering of Christ was not suffering for no reason, but the love of God expressed through suffering—a love that has a high cost; giving oneself to love someone else. Clare understood by contemplating this mystery that she too would be able to embrace her own suffering as a part of Christ’s redemption.

The life Clare lived was a reflection of her contemplation of the cross. Clare willingly took on severe physical penance as the result of her deep desire to share in the passion of Christ and to know Christ in the fellowship of His sufferings. Clare recognized that in order to live her life in conformity with the crucified Christ, she had to contemplate the crucified Christ and let that contemplation transform her into the likeness of Christ and a lover of God willing to pay the price of love.

Despite Clare’s intense contemplation of the crucified Christ, she never lost sight of her faith in the resurrection. She believed that the crucified Christ is the risen Lord; therefore, the wounds we contemplate in the crucified Christ will one day be transformed into the signs of love’s victory in glory. Clare’s prayer included this paschal tension of joy and hope: suffering and death as Christ experienced; hope for the resurrection as Christ experienced.

Mystical Experiences: Light and Union

Although Clare did not write much regarding her personal mystical experiences, her humility and humility were characteristic traits of true mystics; witnesses recorded numerous other fabulous occurrences that took place during Clare’s prayers. Most notably were the accounts of light that were present during her deepest contemplations of prayer.

Witnesses testified that the face of Clare shown bright with light during her time of prayer, and particularly during her night vigils before the Blessed Sacrament; her radiance was real light and not just metaphorical; the bright glow emanating from Clare’s face was often enough to light up the darkened chapel. Once, a sister came across Clare in ecstasy, completely surrounded by radiant light; the sister had to shield her eyes because of the overwhelming brightness.

The phenomenon of mystical light is deeply steeped in both biblical and theological traditions. It reminds one of Moses coming down from Mt. Sinai with a shining face after he had been with God; the Transfiguration of Christ on Mt. Tabor; and the vision of St. Paul on the road to Damascus. In the Christian mystical tradition, this kind of light represents the uncreated energies of God breaking through the material world, and the Holy Spirit transforming human nature through union with God. Clare’s luminous prayer was a sign of her deep connection to God’s own divine life.

Clare’s prayer life also included times of rapture, ecstasy, during her times of prayer, when she became absorbed in an awareness of God’s presence and her awareness of the everyday reality of her life was suspended. When challenged in this way, Clare became aware of absolutely nothing except for God and His presence. These were not trance or dissociated psychological states of Clare; they were not psychological conditions. Rather, they were heightened contemplative awareness where she experienced the thin veil separating time from eternity, and Clare was immediately connected to the eternal reality of God’s love.

There were also testimonies from her sisters stating that Clare would at times seem to bilocate; being two places at the same time. On Christmas Eve, because of her illness, Clare could not attend Midnight Mass in the chapel, but at the conclusion of that liturgy, she was able to tell all that happened there because of the mystical vision she received from God. Pope Pius XII would later name Clare as the patron saint of television because of the spiritual implications of her mystical experience through the vision of Clare.

Although these great experiences were indeed unusual, they were not the goal of Clare’s prayer. Clare pursued only God and God’s goal; she did not pursue the mystical experience of God. The light, ecstasy, and vision experienced by Clare were indeed a byproduct of her strong love for God, and were like other special help from God that He gives to people as encouragement and confirmation, but were not the most important part of Clare’s contemplative life. Far more important than Clare’s dramatic experiences were her charity, humility, and conformity to Christ, which are marks of true mystics.

The Ministry of Intercessory Prayer

Clare of Assisi had a powerful role in intercessory prayer, as she prayed for humanity’s suffering and struggles by uniting herself in prayer with Christ. For Clare, a contemplative life did not mean withdrawing from human needs around her, but rather bringing the concerns and suffering of the whole world into the presence of God.

Clare prayed for the Church, for Francis and the friars, for the poor, for sinners, and for the sick. Many people came to Clare at San Damiano’s grate to ask for her prayers, confident that her closeness to God enhanced the effectiveness of her prayers for those in need. Clare never once refused them; she understood intercessory prayer was one of the primary ways that contemplatives can help people who are outside of their enclosure.

However, when Clare prayed, she did not simply recite a list of names; she held the person in her mind in a contemplative way before God. She prayed for the person to come into the presence of God and into the love of God. This form of intercessory prayer was much deeper than asking God to help someone; it created a space of interior awareness for that person to meet the mercy of God.

The miraculous deliverance of Assisi from military attack is evidence of the power of Clare’s intercessory prayer. When the forces of this world were threatening Assisi, Clare called upon the heavenly powers to defend Assisi. Clare believed prayer could do what armies could not do, and this belief illustrated how Clare understood the power of contemplation. A contemplative does not escape earthly history; instead, they confront earthly history at its most profound level—the intersection of God’s will and the free choice of humankind.

Clare’s ministry of intercession is a very significant model for seekers today. In a contemporary society that values only visible productivity, Clare’s life reminds people that prayer can also be considered work, and perhaps the most important work of all. Those who pray deeply and fervently for the world will, often without realizing, be serving the world by creating openings for God’s grace to enter, making themselves available to cooperate with God’s work of redemption.

Clare’s Rule: Contemplative Wisdom for Community

In 1253, Pope Innocent IV approved Clare’s Rule, or “Form of Life,” which offers profound insights into contemplative living for Clare and for her sisters. Unlike many monastic rules that are primarily based on laws of external observances, Clare’s Rule puts an emphasis on an individual’s interior disposition and on developing the virtues that will aid in becoming a deep and effective prayer person.

Clare emphasized that her sisters should have nothing of their own and that they were to have absolute faith in God’s providence to care for them. Clare understood that when someone owned nothing materially, they could also possess nothing of a selfish or capricious nature. The willingness to relinquish personal preferences and desires to submit fully to others and to live in harmony and obedience is the act of prayer itself. This utterly generous and selfless act will create the interior freedom necessary for a genuine friendship and communion with God.

Clare’s Rule requires a great deal of time to be given to prayer—both liturgical and contemplative. Clare believed contemplative prayer should require that sisters dedicate sufficient time to generate a profound depth of prayer and that sisters would not spontaneously develop mystical union through chance; they must individually commit to continuous practice and dedication to prayer. Clare created an environment where prayer and contemplation would flourish rather than be relegated to moments left over after hours of other commitments.

Clare also included instructions on the significance of mutual love (charity), recognizing that the quality of life in community either helps or hinders the contemplative’s prayer life. Clare understood that issues related to conflict, resentment, and interpersonal tensions create fragmentation of consciousness and disrupt the interior peace required to pray. Clare insisted the first step to peace was forgiveness, patience, and genuine concern for one another, and she recognized that a contemplative community must be a school of charity in addition to being a school of prayer.

The stipulation of enclosure, in Clare’s Rule, serves to provide a protected enclave for the contemplative to ensure that nothing from the outside world can enter the contemplative’s prayer space. Clare did not advocate enclosure as a means of providing a protected space to be left unimpeded by outside forces but as a means of providing a protected space that will allow for a total environment that will promote communion with God.

Enclosure limits the amount of outside noise and socializing available to a contemplative, helping the sisters to remain focused and simplified in their pursuit of God and to establish an environment conducive to deep prayer. Therefore, Clare was well aware of the many distractions, including many external stimuli, that would inhibit a prayer life of depth.

Spiritual Motherhood: Clare’s Guidance of Souls

Although Clare lived an enclosed life, she exercised her role as a spiritual mother to many people who sought out her guidance as they began their prayer journey. Clare’s letters to Blessed Agnes of Prague exemplify Clare’s stunning ability as a spiritual director to articulate her contemplative wisdom using language that is accessible to others, as well as her greatness of skill in encouraging and challenging those entrusted to her direction.

Clare’s letters to Agnes are an ideal balance of affection and rigor and a perfect combination of tenderly addressing someone as “dearest daughter” or “mother and daughter” and calling that same person to a radical commitment to God. This dynamic of providing both counsel and challenge created an effective safe and stable environment for growth.

Clare guided Agnes through numerous levels of contemplation using a mirror metaphor to narrate Agnes’ progression from initial conversion to deepening prayer up to transforming union with God. Clare’s pedagogy gives us an insight into the spiritual formation process and her understanding that the stages of contemplative prayer unfold and develop over a period of time. Each stage in spiritual development will demand differing emphases in prayer and will require distinct methods for contemplation.

Clare also demonstrates a good degree of psychological insight in her direction of Agnes. Clare understands the many difficulties associated with a life of contemplation, including temptations and spiritual aridity, and the difficulties associated with attending to the requirements of enclosure. Clare does not reject or deny the difficulty of living a contemplative life but validates these challenges and simultaneously encourages perseverance through faithfulness to God. From Clare’s perspective, true spiritual growth will be extremely difficult and painful, and the path that ultimately leads to union with God will contain both the dark night (or dark periods) and consolations.

In addition to Clare’s spiritual motherhood toward her sisters at San Damiano, Clare also exercised her role as a spiritual mother to countless others. Sisters of San Damiano testify to Clare’s gentle spirit and to her ability to correct others gently, without crushing their spirits. Sisters also speak of her wisdom in applying rules of principles to concrete situations. Clare attended to those who were sick and to those who suffered and who manifested doubt in their faith by demonstrating an unconditional love and compassion for them, as manifested by her washing of the feet of the sick.

Illness and Suffering: The Final School of Prayer

As a result of chronic suffering from long-term illness during Clare’s last years of her life, she spent the majority of her time bedridden. Nevertheless, she used that suffering as the last school where she received lessons on contemplation and knowledge of God. Since Clare was no longer physically able to perform external works, her only option for communion with God was through prayer, which required no physical effort.

Clare did not interpret her suffering as meaningless affliction; rather, she saw it as an active involvement in Christ’s Passion. Each of Clare’s pains became an opportunity to unite her pain to the redemptive suffering of Christ. In this way, Clare participated with, and through, Christ in an intimate relationship with him by joining him in the experience of suffering. Clare’s response to being unable to perform works and give assistance to others captured her understanding that all forms of suffering participate in Christ’s suffering for the world’s redemption. Therefore, in addition to being masochistically motivated, Clare’s understanding of suffering was theologically driven.

Her death in 1253 revealed the full fruit of Clare’s faithfulness to the life of contemplation. Those present when Clare died remarked on the significant peace around Clare just prior to her death; many had visions of heaven opening to receive Clare and of Christ and his mother welcoming Clare to her homecoming. Just like in her life, Clare died watching Christ while being united to him in love and transformed into the likeness of divine beauty after decades of faithfully living the life of contemplation.

Clare’s Legacy: A Light Still Shining

St. Clare of Assisi was canonized just two years after her death, indicating the speed with which her name became known throughout the world and recognized as a woman of God. However, the importance of Clare’s witness continues to unfold many centuries later. In 1958, Clare became known as the patroness of television and was named a saint for the significant contribution of her life to women’s spirituality. Today, St. Clare continues to serve as a source of inspiration for many who are seeking after radical commitment, mystical wisdom, wisdom, and women mystics.

Clare’s call to live in poverty challenges modern-day over-consumption and materialism by encouraging them to question everything regarding their needs, whether their possessions possess them, and what is essential to be conscious of, as well as how simplicity allows for greater conscious awareness. Living in an excess of material possessions helps to clarify and liberate individuals from the bondage created through consumerism.

The gazing of the heart in the act of contemplation as Clare explained it gives rise to a method for modern contemplatives to pray without becoming confused and overwhelmed by complicated methods of prayer. The fundamental idea of gazing upon Christ as expressed through Scripture, Eucharist, iconography, and/or imagination provides a very accessible avenue to build their individual relationship with Christ and receive and give love without unnecessary complications.

Clare’s inclusion of feminine experience with the mystical vision of God contributes to the richness of Christian Mysticism. Clare expressed her thoughts through her written words as enjoying the experience through a woman’s lens, with images of a mother. Clare did not attempt to transcend or apologize for being a woman. Clare’s understanding of the mystical experience of God was fully incarnated through her feminine embodiment, enriching the lives of all, especially women who have a desire to enter the contemplative life.

Clare has demonstrated the potential for radical holiness among women, that the depth of the mystical experience does not require the ordination of men or the academic degrees of men, and that the wisdom of someone who has devoted their lives to the world intensely through serving God bears as much fruit as someone who has taught in a pulpit or who has gained his or her wisdom from academic institutions. Clare was the initial pioneer who created a new form of a woman’s life devoted to: acquiring autonomy with respect to governance, creating space for deep prayer and contemplation, and the creation of saints and mystics in her lifetime, and, in time, across the next several centuries.

Clare continues to provide timeless wisdom for the present-day seeker regardless of gender, including encouraging the present-day seeker to create space physically, temporally, and psychologically to facilitate the practice of the act of prayer; encouraging the seeker to engage in the practice of prolonged gazing at Christ; and the significance of poverty in liberating consciousness from the distractions of the world to allow for divine awareness.

Through her life and work, Clare proved the tremendous need for God to have lovers of the contemplative life who are willing to give all for the sake of attaining the greatest treasure, the pearl of great price. In the reflection of Clare’s life and through her divine beauty, seekers will see their face as God dreams of their face—luminous, loved, and radiating with the light born and matured within when they have allowed their ability to receive God’s light fully to fill them.

St. Clare of Assisi calls us today to create space for contemplation in over-scheduled lives, to embrace simplicity in a culture of consumption, to trust that prayer matters even when its effects remain hidden, to believe that sustained gazing at Christ will transform us from glory to glory. Her life assures us that the contemplative path remains open, that mystical union is possible, that God still seeks contemplative lovers willing to give everything for the pearl of great price. In her mirror of divine beauty, we glimpse both the face of Christ and our own faces as God dreams them—luminous, beloved, radiant with the light that shines from within when we finally allow ourselves to be filled with the presence for which we were created.