Franciscan Clarean Prepping: Holy Readiness in a Shaking World

🌿 Franciscan Clarean Prepping: Holy Readiness in a Shaking World

By Sister Abigail Hester, OFC

When most people hear “prepping,” they think of bunkers, canned beans, and conspiracy podcasts. But for the Franciscan Clarean soul, prepping means something far more sacred — living ready in love.

It’s not fear that drives us; it’s fidelity. We prepare because we love God, creation, and one another too much not to.

🕊 Spiritual Readiness

Saint Clare told her sisters, “We become what we love, and who we love shapes what we become.”
If we love the God of peace, we become peace-prepared people — grounded in prayer, uncluttered in heart, clear in conscience.

Our best emergency plan is still a deep, practiced peace. When the world trembles, we don’t lose our footing because our roots go down into grace.

🌾 Practical Simplicity

We are not stockpiling; we are stewarding.
We learn to grow herbs, store rainwater, preserve food, care for one another’s needs. We know how to keep the lamps trimmed and burning (Matthew 25:1–13).

As a European Commission statement urged earlier this year, “Readiness must become a way of life.” (Reuters, March 2025). For the Franciscan Clarean, this means daily mindfulness of the earth, sustainability, and mutual care — holy minimalism for maximum compassion.

🤝 Communal Readiness

We don’t build bunkers. We build belonging.
If crisis comes, our doors open wider. Our pantry becomes “ours,” not “mine.” We practice the Gospel economy: what’s shared multiplies; what’s hoarded spoils.

The WFP recently reported that over 13 million people are on the brink of famine in conflict regions (Reuters, Oct 2025). In such a world, readiness without generosity is hypocrisy.

🔥 Prophetic Readiness

Francis read the “signs of the times” in the brokenness of his century. We do the same. We don’t wring our hands at the headlines — we read them as invitations.

When leaders warn of power grids at risk, or another pandemic wave, or climate dislocation, we respond as Clare would: with clear eyes and compassionate hearts.
Not hiding. Not hoarding.
Holding. Helping. Hoping.

To prep Franciscan-style is to be the steady heartbeat of peace when the world’s pulse races.

“Be ready,” says Jesus, “for the Son of Man comes at an hour you do not expect.” (Matthew 24:44)

But the readiness He calls for isn’t anxiety — it’s availability.

Let the world stockpile.
Let us stock up on faith, gentleness, oil for our lamps, and bread for the stranger.

This is Franciscan Clarean Prepping — holy readiness for uncertain days, lived with unclenched hands and fearless love.