St. Clare of Assisi
Born:
July 16, 1194
Assisi, Italy
Died:
August 11, 1253
Assisi, Italy
Canonized:
September 26, 1255
Honored in:
Roman Catholic, Anglican Communion and
Lutheran Churches
Feast Day:
August 11
Patron Saint of:
Eye disease, goldsmiths, needleworkers
and television
Novena To Saint Clare
Dear St. Clare, as a young girl you imitated your
mother's love for the poor of your native Assisi.
Inspired
by the preaching of St. Francis, who sang
enthusiastically of His Lord Jesus and Lady Poverty,
you gave your life to Jesus at nineteen
years of age,
allowing St. Francis to cut off your beautiful hair
and invest you with the Franciscan habit.
All through your life
you offered your great suffering for
your Sisters, the Poor Clares, and the conversion of souls.
You greatly aided St. Francis with
his new order,
carrying on his spirit in the Franciscans after his death.
Most of all you had a deep love of Jesus
in the Most Blessed
Sacrament, which
fueled your vocation to love and care for the poor.
Please pray for me that I will seek to keep
Jesus as my first
love, as you did.
Help me to grow in love of the Blessed Sacrament,
to care for the poor, and to offer my whole life to God.
Heavenly
Father, thank You for the gift of St. Clare.
Through her intercession,
please hear and answer my prayer,
in the name of Jesus Your
Son.
Amen.
Prayer to St. Clare of Assisi
Glorious St. Clare of Assisi,
I honor you for the unfailing faith
that made you reject all earthly
pleasures,
and renounce all of your possessions.
I honor you for your life of extreme poverty and austerity,
and for your prayer and
penance
on behalf of your nuns and the town of Assisi.
Grant me, dear Lady, the same faith, humility and charity
that you have shown
toward God and your community.
Amen.
Prayer of St. Clare
I look up and I behold the Lord,
Clare says to me,
“Gaze upon Him, consider Him, contemplate Him,
I put this
more simply: behold, hold, enfold.
I behold the Lord
I see His outstretched hands
I see the blood from His wounds.
I see the love
in the eyes of Jesus.
I see His gracious acceptance of me.
Jesus has come out of the tomb –
He still has the scars,
but now they
are glorious, with the glory of heaven.
Still looking at the Lord, I reach out and touch Him.
I hold the Lord – and I am held in His
love.
Love enfolds
It is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me.
I am secure in the Lord.
I can look out, now, through
the Lord’s eyes.
I can see the world as He created it, in His mercy,
I can see my sisters and brothers with His love,
and I can worship
the Father through the eyes of the Son
in the Love of the Holy Spirit.
