Thursday, August 11, 2022
Saint Claire
ST. CLARE-Full Sturgeon Moon
Luke,
Chapter 20, Verse 19
The scribes and chief priests sought to lay their hands on him at that very hour, but they FEARED the people, for they knew that he had addressed this parable to them.
Politics never changes. Those in power find it very difficult to surrender. The powerful leaders of Israel were offended because Christ told them the truth, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.”
The Real Issue was Surrender[1]
The scribes had set a trap by asking whether it was right to pay taxes to Caesar. They sought to label Him as a traitor to the Jews if he said yes and if He said no they could accuse Him before the Romans. Their plan was perfect yet, Jesus was able to see past the façade. Taxes were not the issue: Surrender was the issue. Who or what are the values and assumptions about life do we surrender too? Christ’s question, “Who’s image is on the coin.” He meant that any object stamped with a person’s image belongs to the individual pictured. This coin carried Caesar’s image, so they were to surrender that coin to Caesar. Christ’s point was the Israel’s had been stamped with God’s image. They therefore should surrender themselves to God.
Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship[2]
As Catholics
we therefore must give our consciences to God. Catholics are called to care and
vote responsibly.
Vote: Life, Liberty, and Prosperity NOT Prosperity TRUMPS Liberty and Liberty TRUMPS Life-Life is the will of God, freewill is the will of God and private property is the will of God.
St. Clare[3]
The
Lady Clare, "shining in name, more shining in life," was born in the
town of Assisi about the year 1193. She was eighteen years old when St.
Francis, preaching the Lenten sermons at the church of St. George in Assisi,
influenced her to change the whole course of her life. Talking with him
strengthened her desire to leave all worldly things behind and live for Christ.
The following evening, she slipped away from her home and hurried through the
woods to the chapel of the Portiuncula, where Francis was then living with his
small community. He and his brethren had been at prayers before the altar and
met her at the door with lighted tapers in their hands. Before the Blessed
Virgin's altar Clare laid off her fine cloak, Francis sheared her hair, and
gave her his own penitential habit, a tunic of coarse cloth tied with a cord.
When
it was known at home what Clare had done, relatives and friends came to rescue
her. She resisted valiantly when they tried to drag her away, clinging to the
convent altar so firmly as to pull the cloths half off. Baring her shorn head,
she declared that Christ had called her to His service, she would have no other
spouse, and the more they continued their persecutions the more steadfast she
would become.
Francis
had her removed to the nunnery of Sant' Angelo di Panzo, where her sister
Agnes, a child of fourteen, joined her. This meant more difficulty for them
both, but Agnes' constancy too was victorious, and in spite of her youth
Francis gave her the habit. Later he placed them in a small and humble house,
adjacent to his beloved church of St. Damian, on the outskirts of Assisi, and
in 1215, when Clare was about twenty-two, he appointed her superior and gave
her his rule to live by. She was soon joined by her mother and several other
women, to the number of sixteen. They had all felt the strong appeal of poverty
and sackcloth, and without regret gave up their titles and estates to become
Clare's humble disciples.
Within
a few years similar convents were founded in the Italian cities of Perugia,
Padua, Rome, Venice, Mantua, Bologna, Milan, Siena, and Pisa, and also in
various parts of France and Germany. Agnes, daughter of the King of Bohemia,
established a nunnery of this order in Prague, and took the habit herself. The
"Poor Clare’s," as they came to be known, practiced austerities which
until then were unusual among women. They went barefoot, slept on the ground,
observed a perpetual abstinence from meat, and spoke only when obliged to do so
by necessity or charity. Clare herself considered this silence desirable as a
means of avoiding the innumerable sins of the tongue, and for keeping the mind
steadily fixed on God. Francis or the bishop of Assisi sometimes had to command
her to lie on a mattress and to take a little nourishment every day.
Discretion,
came with years, and much later Clare wrote this sound advice to Agnes of
Bohemia: "Since our bodies are not of brass and our strength is not the
strength of stone, but instead we are weak and subject to corporal infirmities,
I implore you vehemently in the Lord to refrain from the exceeding rigor of
abstinence which I know you practice, so that living and hoping in the Lord you
may offer Him a reasonable service and a sacrifice seasoned with the salt of
prudence."
Saint Clare, Virgin,
Foundress of the Poor Clare’s.
"When
the Saracens were besieging Assisi and were preparing to attack the convent,
St. Clare asked to be assisted as far as the entrance, for she was ill. In her
hand she carried a vessel containing the blessed Eucharist as she prayed: O
Lord, do not deliver over to beasts the souls that praise You! (Ps. 73).
Protect Your servants, for You have redeemed them by Your precious Blood. And
in the midst of that prayer a voice was heard, saying: Always will I protect
you!
The
Saracens took to flight."[4]
Catechism
of the Catholic Church
PART TWO: THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY
SECTION TWO-THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH
CHAPTER
ONE-THE SACRAMENTS OF CHRISTIAN INITIATION
Article 3 THE SACRAMENT OF THE
EUCHARIST
VII. The
Eucharist - "Pledge of the Glory To Come"
1402 In an ancient prayer the Church acclaims the mystery of
the Eucharist: "O sacred banquet in which Christ is received as food, the
memory of his Passion is renewed, the soul is filled with grace and a pledge of
the life to come is given to us." If the Eucharist is the memorial of the
Passover of the Lord Jesus, if by our communion at the altar we are filled
"with every heavenly blessing and grace," then the Eucharist is
also an anticipation of the heavenly glory.
1403 At the Last Supper the Lord himself directed his
disciples' attention toward the fulfillment of the Passover in the kingdom of
God: "I tell you I shall not drink again of this fruit of the vine until
that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." Whenever
the Church celebrates the Eucharist she remembers this promise and turns her
gaze "to him who is to come." In her prayer she calls for his coming:
"Marana tha!" "Come, Lord Jesus!" "May your grace
come and this world pass away!"
1404 The Church knows that the Lord comes even now in his
Eucharist and that he is there in our midst. However, his presence is veiled.
Therefore we celebrate the Eucharist "awaiting the blessed hope and the
coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ," asking "to share in your
glory when every tear will be wiped away. On that day we shall see you, our
God, as you are. We shall become like you and praise you for ever through Christ
our Lord."
1405 There is no surer pledge or dearer sign of this great hope
in the new heavens and new earth "in which righteousness dwells," than
the Eucharist. Every time this mystery is celebrated, "the work of our
redemption is carried on" and we "break the one bread that provides
the medicine of immortality, the antidote for death, and the food that makes us
live for ever in Jesus Christ."
Full Sturgeon Moon
According
to the almanac today we are having a Full Sturgeon Moon; plan to spend some
time fishing or visit an aquarium with your children or grandchildren.
Daily
Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: End
Sex Trafficking, Slavery
·
do
a personal eucharistic stations of the cross.
·
Religion
in the Home for Preschool: August
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Let
Freedom Ring Day 35
·
Rosary
Today is my Grandson Frank Isak’s (Free Laughter) Third birthday I ask your prayers. This was the blessing and prophesy I wrote for his naming.
This child will
be a free man who laughs and is able to get enthusiastic about the endless
beauty of this world. He will be a person that is dependable, responsible and teaches
others gratitude.
On August 5 we welcomed my daughters second grandson his name is
Hunter (warrior) Atlas (endurance)
I pray pray that he will be a warrior for the Lord who endures and remains loyal to the Faith. May he live the words of Tennyson-To Strive, To Seek, To Find, and not to yield.
[1] John Maxwell, The Maxwell
Leadership Bible.
[4]https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2021-08-11
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