The Writings of Saint Clare of Assisi
A Franciscan Clarean Commentary
by Sister Abigail Hester
Dedication
For all who seek the Poor Christ in the mirror of Sister Clare—
those who dare to live joyfully, simply, and compassionately
in the heart of a world that has forgotten how to see.
Epigraph
“Place your mind before the mirror of eternity;
place your soul in the brilliance of glory;
place your heart in the figure of the divine substance;
and transform your whole being into the image of the Godhead itself.”
— Saint Clare of Assisi, Fourth Letter to Agnes of Prague
🌿 Introduction: Clare the Mirror of Christ
Saint Clare of Assisi was no passive reflection of Saint Francis — she was his equal in spirit, a mirror of the same light refracted through a different soul. While Francis stood in the marketplaces and crossroads, Clare built sanctuaries of stillness where the light could dwell and deepen. Together, they embodied the two lungs of one Gospel breath: action and contemplation, poverty and beauty, compassion and courage.
Born into privilege, Clare renounced the security of her family’s wealth to embrace a radical alternative — a life without possession, without domination, without fear. In an age where women’s voices were often silenced or confined, Clare carved a space where divine love could be lived as equality, sisterhood, and mutual care. Her monastery at San Damiano was not a retreat from the world but a revolution within it.
She dared to insist that the Gospel could be lived without compromise. Her sisters owned nothing — not even their convent — and survived entirely on providence. Popes tried to impose rules that would soften her radical poverty, but Clare held her ground for over forty years, and only two days before her death in 1253 did the Church finally approve her Rule — the first written by a woman in the history of Christianity.
Clare’s legacy is not merely one of cloistered devotion; it is the legacy of freedom through simplicity and power through humility. She teaches that poverty is not deprivation but liberation from possession. Her life was a sermon preached not with words but with a lamp — literally. Tradition holds that when Saracen troops attacked Assisi, Clare faced them down not with swords but with the Blessed Sacrament lifted high in her hands. The invaders fled. That moment captures her entire spirituality: a fierce faith illuminated by peace, a woman holding the light when the world grows dark.
To the Franciscan Clarean tradition, Clare stands as the feminine wisdom of the Gospel. Where Francis runs out to kiss the leper, Clare kneels to wash the wounds of community. Where Francis hears “rebuild my church,” Clare patiently builds it brick by brick with prayer, mercy, and shared bread. In our own time — a world burning with greed, division, and despair — her words call us back to the sacred simplicity of love made visible.
In these pages, her Rule, Letters, and Testament are presented not as relics of medieval piety, but as living instructions for a new humanity. This commentary reads her words through the lens of our modern Franciscan Clarean commitments: ecological stewardship, radical inclusivity, nonviolence, mutuality, and contemplative action.
Clare’s light has not dimmed across the centuries. She continues to whisper to those who stand at the edges — the poor, the queer, the forgotten, the bold — saying:
“Do not be afraid of your poverty. It is your greatest power.”
May these writings remind us, as they reminded her, that to mirror Christ is not to escape the world — it is to transform it by becoming light within it.
Part I: The Rule of Saint Clare
Chapter 1: The Form of Life
Text of Saint Clare
The form of life of the Order of the Poor Sisters, which Blessed Francis founded, is this:
To observe the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ by living in obedience, in poverty, and in chastity.
Clare, the unworthy servant of Christ and little plant of the most blessed Francis, promises obedience and reverence to the Lord Pope Innocent and his successors, and to the Roman Church.
And as the brothers of the Order of the Lesser Brothers are bound to obey the Minister General of the Order of the Friars Minor, and the others who are appointed by him, so too her sisters are bound always to have one of the brothers of that Order as their minister and spiritual director, appointed by the Minister General.
They are also bound always to live in the enclosure, unless necessity or obedience compels them otherwise.
This is the beginning and foundation of their holy way of life.
Franciscan Clarean Commentary: “The Gospel as Our Rule”
Saint Clare begins where Francis began — not with hierarchy, not with law, but with the Gospel itself. For Clare, the “form of life” is not a code of restrictions; it is a living rhythm shaped by love, simplicity, and mutual dependence. To live “according to the holy Gospel” is to live as Christ lived: poor, free, open-hearted, and unarmed before the world.
🌿 1. The Vow Beneath the Vows
Clare names obedience, poverty, and chastity as her three formal vows — but each one flowers from a deeper root: love unpossessed.
Poverty for Clare is not lack, but liberty — the joyful refusal to own or dominate.
Chastity is not repression, but the freedom to love all beings without claiming them.
Obedience is not submission to power, but radical listening to the Spirit speaking through others.
She understood that true obedience must be reciprocal, grounded in community discernment rather than control. The Poor Sisters lived as a circle, not a pyramid.
🔥 2. Gospel Poverty as Resistance
In the 13th century, noblewomen like Clare were supposed to marry or be cloistered under Church protection. Clare’s vow of absolute poverty — refusing even property “held in common” — was a scandal. It was her revolution.
She stood against the spiritual capitalism of her time, where holiness could be bought by benefactors and security was prized over faith. Her life became a living sermon: You cannot serve both God and gold.
In the Franciscan Clarean spirit, we interpret this as a call to economic and ecological non-possession today: sharing resources, rejecting exploitation, consuming less, and living lightly on the Earth. Poverty, in this light, becomes solidarity with creation — a lifestyle of reverence and restraint.
🌺 3. The Little Plant and the Tree
Clare calls herself “the little plant of the blessed Francis.” It’s one of the most tender phrases in Christian mysticism. She knew that holiness grows through humility — not shrinking, but rooting deeply in love.
Her image suggests not dependence, but kinship: the little plant and the great tree drink from the same Source.
In the Franciscan Clarean vision, this language reminds us that discipleship is organic: the Gospel grows through relationships, not decrees. The community that lives by love cultivates the Kingdom — it doesn’t enforce it.
🌕 4. Enclosure as Inner Freedom
Clare’s “enclosure” was literal — her monastery walls — but spiritually, it represented something deeper: the discipline of inwardness. She understood that external freedom without inner peace becomes chaos. Her enclosure was not isolation; it was focus.
For modern Franciscan Clareans, this means cultivating inner stillness in a noisy, distracted world — creating contemplative space in our hearts and communities where God’s quiet voice can be heard again.
✨ Franciscan Clarean Reflection
To live the Gospel as Clare did is to become a living rule:
our body the monastery,
our breath the prayer,
our compassion the sacrament,
our poverty the liberation of all.
In every generation, the Spirit calls new Clares to rise — not behind convent walls, but within the world’s wounds — to shine light from within the dark.
Part I: The Rule of Saint Clare
Chapter 2: Those Who Wish to Accept This Life and How They Are to Be Received
Text of Saint Clare
If, by divine inspiration, anyone should come to us desiring to accept this life and enter our Order, the Abbess is to seek the consent of all the sisters.
If the majority agree, and if she is judged suitable, she may be received after she has been examined diligently in what concerns the Catholic faith and the life of our Order.
If she perseveres in her holy intention and there are no obstacles, the word of the holy Gospel should be presented to her, saying that she must sell all she possesses and give it to the poor.
If she cannot do this, her good will is enough.
After the year of probation, let her be received to obedience, promising to observe perpetually the life and rule we have professed.
The Abbess and her sisters should take the greatest care that no one who has not been examined or approved shall be received.
Franciscan Clarean Commentary: “Called by the Spirit, Not by Status”
🌿 1. Vocation as Divine Impulse
Clare begins with a radical statement: “If, by divine inspiration, anyone should come to us…”
She doesn’t say if a woman of noble birth, if she has a dowry, or if she’s well educated.
The call comes from the Spirit, not from social standing.
In her time, convents often served as safe houses for noblewomen or political pawns. Clare overturned that system — she opened the door to all who were moved by love, not motivated by advantage.
For the Franciscan Clarean Order, this remains foundational: vocation is discerned by compassion, not credentials. Whether you’re a scholar, a street chaplain, or a single parent, the Spirit’s call is the only true qualification.
🕊️ 2. Discernment as Community Practice
Clare insists the Abbess must “seek the consent of all the sisters.”
Discernment, in her eyes, is never solitary or authoritarian. It is communal, mutual, and participatory.
The community listens together for the voice of God echoing through the desires, fears, and hopes of everyone.
This anticipates what modern theology calls “holy democracy” — the shared governance of the Spirit among equals.
In the Franciscan Clarean vision, we practice discernment through listening circles, prayerful silence, and honest conversation. The Rule invites us to honor the Spirit that speaks even through disagreement — because true peace is not conformity but communion.
🔥 3. Poverty of Entrance
Clare tells the new sister to “sell all she possesses and give it to the poor.” Yet she quickly adds:
If she cannot do this, her good will is enough.
That line is astonishingly merciful. It reveals Clare’s spiritual genius — she knew that not all poverty is chosen.
Many already arrive poor, traumatized, or burdened by life’s injustices. For them, renunciation isn’t symbolic; it’s survival.
In the Franciscan Clarean community, this principle becomes radical inclusivity: everyone enters from where they are, bringing the truth of their story. The requirement is not perfection, but good will. The door remains open to those wounded by the world but still longing for healing.
🌾 4. Formation as Transformation
Clare’s “year of probation” isn’t punishment — it’s a period of becoming. She understood that spiritual formation takes time.
You can’t rush the birth of a new soul. The Rule emphasizes gentle mentorship — walking beside, not above, the newcomer.
The novice is not tested for worthiness but invited into relationship with the Gospel community.
Today, our Franciscan Clarean approach to formation mirrors this: slow, relational, and real. It’s less about memorizing doctrines and more about learning to live with open hands, open eyes, and an unguarded heart.
💫 5. Examined but Never Excluded
Clare insists no one should be received without careful discernment — but the purpose is not exclusion; it’s protection. The Rule guards against manipulation, abuse, or entering without understanding the cost of love.
In the 21st century, we read this as a call to trauma-informed vocation — honoring the stories and wounds that shape each seeker. We welcome discernment as a healing dialogue, not a spiritual interrogation.
✨ Franciscan Clarean Reflection
To join Clare’s path is not to escape the world but to love it fiercely enough to live differently within it.
We are received not because we are pure, but because we are willing.
We are examined not for perfection, but for openness.
We are called not by the Church, but by the Spirit who whispers:
“Come and see — and become who you truly are.”
Part I: The Rule of Saint Clare
Chapter 3: The Divine Office, Fasting, Confession, and Communion
Text of Saint Clare
The sisters who can read shall celebrate the Divine Office according to the custom of the Friars Minor.
Those who cannot read shall say twenty-four Our Fathers for Matins, five for Lauds, seven for each of the Hours of Prime, Terce, Sext, and None, twelve for Vespers, and seven for Compline.
They shall fast at all times except on Sundays and Christmas Day.
From the feast of All Saints until Easter, they shall fast continuously, except when sickness or weakness requires otherwise.
The sisters shall confess at least twelve times a year and shall receive the Body of our Lord seven times.
The chaplain and confessor shall be a priest approved by the Minister General of the Friars Minor.
Franciscan Clarean Commentary: “Prayer as Rhythm, Not Rule”
🌿 1. The Heartbeat of the Hours
Clare structures the rhythm of her community around prayer, simplicity, and balance — not as a burden, but as breath. The Divine Office was the pulse of the Poor Ladies’ life: prayer marking the dawn, the day, and the dark.
But Clare’s wisdom is hidden in the detail — she makes room for those who cannot read. She replaces complex psalms with Our Fathers, democratizing prayer long before literacy was common among women.
In the Franciscan Clarean vision, this becomes a model of radical accessibility: prayer belongs to everyone, not just scholars or clergy. Whether we chant the psalms or whisper breath prayers in the dark, what matters is the rhythm of love — not the precision of the ritual.
“Let every breath praise the Lord.” — Psalm 150:6
For Clare, every breath was prayer.
🔥 2. Fasting as Freedom
Fasting, in Clare’s world, was a discipline of body and soul — but she tempers it with mercy.
She allows for exceptions when “sickness or weakness” require it. That’s revolutionary compassion for her time.
Most ascetic rules of her era prized suffering; Clare prized balance. She saw fasting not as punishment, but as solidarity — eating less so others might have more, freeing the body so the spirit could listen.
In the Franciscan Clarean lens, fasting becomes a justice practice, not a diet. We fast from greed, waste, cruelty, and despair.
We fast from apathy toward creation and our neighbors.
Our hunger becomes a form of prayer — a longing for a healed world.
💧 3. Confession and Communion as Community Healing
Clare’s requirement of regular confession and communion wasn’t about guilt — it was about rhythm and renewal.
She saw these sacraments as touchpoints of grace, not checkpoints of purity.
In her monastery, confession was an act of courage — a way of staying honest and free within a small, intense community.
Receiving the Eucharist seven times a year may seem sparse to modern eyes, but in her day, it was considered frequent. For Clare, each communion was a feast of fire — the moment when Christ’s poverty entered her own.
She wrote elsewhere, “Look upon Him Who became contemptible for you, and follow Him, making yourself contemptible in the world for Him.”
That’s not shame — it’s holy identification. To her, communion meant participating in the humility of God.
For the Franciscan Clarean community, confession and communion take broader forms:
Confession becomes honest accountability and emotional truth-telling.
Communion becomes any act of shared sacred nourishment — Eucharist, shared bread, mutual care, or shared silence.
The form may vary, but the essence is the same: God becomes present when we become honest.
🌾 4. The Priest as Servant, Not Master
Clare insists her chaplain and confessor be approved by the Friars Minor, not by local bishops. That’s an early form of spiritual independence. She wanted her community under the care of those who shared Francis’ heart, not bureaucratic control.
It’s subtle but subversive: she builds a space where women’s spiritual lives are guided by fraternity, not hierarchy.
In our Franciscan Clarean approach, ministers and confessors are companions, not gatekeepers.
They hold space, not power.
They bless, they do not bind.
They serve by presence, not by pronouncement.
✨ Franciscan Clarean Reflection
Prayer is the rhythm of love, not a performance.
Fasting is freedom, not denial.
Confession is truth-telling, not shame.
Communion is community, not control.
To pray as Clare prayed is to make every moment a meeting place between the soul and the world —
a liturgy without walls,
a Eucharist of justice,
a fast for peace,
a psalm written in footsteps.
Part I: The Rule of Saint Clare
Chapter 4: The Election and Office of the Abbess
Text of Saint Clare
When the Abbess dies, the election of another shall take place by the consent of all the sisters.
The election must be conducted in the presence of the whole community and in a spirit of prayer.
If the Minister General of the Friars Minor or his delegate is present, he should preside; otherwise, the sisters themselves may proceed with the election in good order.
The one elected must be of legitimate age, of sound faith, and worthy of the office.
The Abbess should be the servant of all, especially of the weaker sisters.
She should correct the sisters when necessary, but always with gentleness and compassion, not with harshness or domination.
She should strive to be the first in virtue, not in authority, remembering that she must render an account to God for all those entrusted to her care.
Franciscan Clarean Commentary: “Leadership as Holy Service”
🌾 1. The Abbess as Sister, Not Sovereign
Clare’s understanding of leadership is breathtakingly countercultural.
In a Church built on hierarchy, she imagines authority as a circle of mutual care.
Her Abbess is not a queen or superior, but “the servant of all, especially of the weaker sisters.”
This reverses the world’s order of power.
In the Franciscan Clarean vision, this becomes the heart of governance: leadership as foot washing.
We do not ascend to lead; we stoop to love.
An Abbess — or any leader — must be the first to listen, the last to speak, and the one who kneels to bind up wounds.
“Whoever would be great among you must be your servant.” — Mark 10:43
🕊️ 2. The Spirit of Communal Election
Clare insists that the election of an Abbess be done “by the consent of all the sisters.”
That’s democracy in sandals.
Every voice matters because every sister bears the Spirit. The community must discern together, not obey uncritically.
Even when the Friars Minor preside, Clare keeps power decentralized — the sisters, not outside clerics, make the decision.
In modern Franciscan Clarean practice, this principle extends beyond monasteries: all ministry is shared ministry.
Whether in a chaplaincy, a cooperative, or a family, leadership arises from listening together for the truth that emerges between hearts.
Authority must always bend toward consensus, compassion, and transparency.
🔥 3. Accountability as Love
Clare’s warning that the Abbess “must render an account to God for all those entrusted to her care” isn’t about fear — it’s about responsibility.
Leadership in her mind is pastoral guardianship, not control.
The Abbess is a mother in spirit — firm yet nurturing, humble yet resolute, answerable not to status but to conscience.
The Franciscan Clarean Order interprets this as servant accountability:
Every leader must practice confession and feedback.
Every voice in the community must have a path to speak truth to power.
Correction, when needed, must be delivered with tenderness — because domination breeds silence, and silence kills community.
🌿 4. Spiritual Maturity Over Worldly Merit
Clare’s criteria for election are simple and revolutionary: faith, worthiness, and age sufficient for wisdom.
She doesn’t mention wealth, beauty, education, or family name — the things her world valued most.
She measured leadership by inner light, not outer achievement.
For modern Franciscan Clareans, this translates to choosing leaders for integrity, not image.
We look for those who love quietly, forgive quickly, and embody justice without seeking credit.
In a culture obsessed with charisma, Clare teaches us to choose the steady flame over the spotlight.
🌺 5. Correcting with Compassion
Clare’s directive that correction be done “not with harshness or domination” could serve as the heart of every Franciscan Clarean formation guide.
Correction must restore dignity, not strip it.
The Abbess’s task is to call forth the best in others — not to expose weakness, but to awaken strength.
That’s trauma-informed leadership centuries before the term existed.
For Clare, even discipline was an act of mercy.
✨ Franciscan Clarean Reflection
Leadership, in Clare’s gospel, is not a throne but a towel.
To lead is to listen.
To guide is to guard.
To serve is to shine without seeking notice.
The true Abbess — the true leader — is not the loudest voice in the room, but the one who keeps the lamp lit when everyone else has fallen asleep.
Part I: The Rule of Saint Clare
Chapter 5: The Manner of Holding the Chapter and the Correction of the Sisters
Text of Saint Clare
The sisters shall hold Chapter at least once a week.
Let the Abbess and the sisters alike be careful not to allow anger or disturbance of heart to grow among them, but let them always take care to preserve unity of love and peace.
When it is necessary to correct a sister, the Abbess or another sister appointed by her shall do so with mercy and discretion, never in a spirit of wrath, but in the spirit of charity.
The Abbess herself shall be corrected by one of the sisters with charity and humility, if it seems necessary.
The sisters are to take care that no one’s faults be made known outside the community.
For gossip and detraction destroy charity and wound the soul.
Each one should guard her own heart and the hearts of her sisters as holy ground, for there the Lord delights to dwell.
Franciscan Clarean Commentary: “Correction as Communion”
🌿 1. Chapter as Sacred Conversation
When Clare instructs her community to “hold Chapter,” she doesn’t mean bureaucracy — she means communion.
For her, the Chapter meeting was a sacred circle of truth-telling, prayer, discernment, and reconciliation. It was the beating heart of the community’s spiritual life.
Every week, the sisters gathered not to scold or debate, but to listen — to each other and to the Spirit moving among them. This rhythm kept their relationships real and their humility alive.
In the Franciscan Clarean context, this becomes our model for spiritual circles of accountability — where truth is spoken gently, wounds are tended collectively, and silence is honored as much as speech.
Our “Chapter” can be a kitchen table, a chapel, or a public square — wherever we gather to remember we belong to one another.
🔥 2. Peace Over Perfection
Clare warns against “anger or disturbance of heart.” She understood something deeply psychological: communities fracture not from failure, but from resentment left unattended.
Her goal wasn’t perfection, but peace — not the peace of avoidance, but the peace of honest reconciliation.
Franciscan Clarean communities today can embody this through nonviolent communication — speaking truth with tenderness, listening without defensiveness, and making amends quickly.
Conflict isn’t a threat to holiness; it’s a crucible of grace when handled with love.
🌾 3. Correction Without Condemnation
Clare’s words — “never in wrath, but in the spirit of charity” — should be carved above every church door.
She replaces punishment with pastoral care, and judgment with discernment.
The purpose of correction is not to shame but to restore — not to control behavior, but to heal relationship.
In the Franciscan Clarean Rule of Life, this becomes restorative correction:
Always one-on-one first, never public humiliation.
Always compassionate, never sarcastic or scolding.
Always with the goal of reconnection, not retribution.
The Abbess (or any leader) must correct with the humility of one who also needs correction. That’s what keeps authority human.
🌸 4. Accountability for the Abbess
Clare’s genius shines in this radical line:
“The Abbess herself shall be corrected by one of the sisters with charity and humility, if it seems necessary.”
That sentence is pure gospel rebellion. In a 13th-century Church where hierarchy was nearly absolute, Clare built reciprocal accountability into her Rule. Even the leader must receive correction — and with grace.
For us, this is sacred mutuality in action: leaders are not above the community but within it. The health of a Franciscan Clarean community depends on shared correction, where love flows both directions.
💫 5. Silence as Protection
Clare’s command to keep faults private — “that no one’s faults be made known outside” — was not about secrecy; it was about protecting dignity.
She saw gossip as spiritual violence — the slow murder of trust.
To her, words were sacred tools of healing, not weapons.
In a Franciscan Clarean frame, this calls us to practice holy discretion in all our relationships. When someone confides their pain, it becomes our liturgy of care.
Clare’s community guarded the heart like a reliquary — not to hide sin, but to shelter souls while they healed.
🕊️ 6. The Heart as Holy Ground
Clare closes this chapter with one of her most beautiful images:
“Each one should guard her own heart and the hearts of her sisters as holy ground.”
This is Franciscan contemplative theology in its purest form.
Every person is a sanctuary. Every heart is a tabernacle. To wound another with words is to desecrate holy space.
For modern Franciscan Clareans, this becomes the foundation of trauma-informed ministry and community life.
We treat every heart — our own included — with gentleness, patience, and awe.
Because the Divine dwells most vividly in the fragile places.
✨ Franciscan Clarean Reflection
Correction is not a courtroom but a conversation.
Accountability is not punishment but partnership.
To hold Chapter is to hold one another — carefully, prayerfully, honestly.
Peace is not the absence of conflict;
it is the presence of mercy.
And mercy is the Rule written on our hearts.
Part I: The Rule of Saint Clare
Chapter 6: The Silence and the Manner of Speaking
Text of Saint Clare
The sisters shall observe silence at all times, except for a just and manifest cause or necessity.
In particular, silence shall be observed in the dormitory, the refectory, and the chapel, from the time of Compline until Terce of the next day.
Let them speak always with discretion and modesty, and never raise their voices in anger or contention.
Their speech should be seasoned with grace, edifying those who hear.
The Abbess and her sisters should be careful that no harmful or idle words are spoken among them, for the mouth speaks from the fullness of the heart.
Let each one take care that her words be a blessing, not a burden.
Franciscan Clarean Commentary: “The Sound of Holiness”
🌾 1. Silence as Sanctuary
Clare was not afraid of silence. She knew it as a doorway to the Divine.
Her command to “observe silence at all times” was not about repression — it was about presence.
She invites her sisters into the kind of stillness that allows the soul to breathe, to listen, and to become porous to God.
In the Franciscan Clarean way, silence is not the absence of sound, but the fullness of awareness.
It’s how we make space for what is real.
We practice silence to hear the cry beneath the noise — the whisper of God in the chaos of modern life.
Our silence isn’t monastic withdrawal; it’s a quiet revolution. In a world addicted to outrage and noise, our stillness becomes a prophetic act of resistance.
🌿 2. Holy Speech as Mutual Healing
Clare balances her silence with her reverence for words. “Let their speech be seasoned with grace,” she says, borrowing Saint Paul’s wisdom.
She understood that speech is never neutral — every word either builds or breaks.
The goal isn’t to never speak, but to speak from love.
For Franciscan Clareans, this becomes a call to truthful tenderness.
We speak only when words will:
heal rather than harm,
clarify rather than confuse,
empower rather than impress.
Our speech should feel like sunlight — warm, illuminating, never scorching.
Clare’s communities were poor, yes, but rich in gentleness.
🔥 3. The Discipline of the Heart
“The mouth speaks from the fullness of the heart,” Clare writes — and she means it literally.
Speech reveals what we worship.
If our words are bitter, it’s because our hearts are unhealed.
If our words bless, it’s because we’ve allowed love to flow through the cracks.
In modern Franciscan Clarean life, this is mindful communication: before we speak, we pause.
We ask:
“Is it true?
Is it kind?
Is it necessary?
Does it serve love?”
If not, silence is holier than speech.
🕊️ 4. Silence as Social Justice
Clare’s silence was not passive. It was strategic spiritual defiance.
In a Church and society where women’s words were often dismissed, her silence became her sermon.
By refusing to fill the air with trivialities or self-justification, she reclaimed the dignity of her voice.
When she did speak, the world listened.
In the Franciscan Clarean tradition, this transforms into a theology of selective speech — we refuse to amplify hatred, lies, or empire’s noise. We conserve our words for liberation, mercy, and truth.
Sometimes, the most prophetic thing we can do is to not respond — to let our peace unsettle the powers that depend on chaos.
💫 5. The Sound of Community
Clare’s call to discretion and modesty of speech is not about quiet conformity. It’s about harmony — like the balance between voices in a choir.
In her monastery, silence wasn’t isolation but attentiveness: each sister making space for the other’s soul to sing.
For Franciscan Clareans today, silence is not just an individual practice but a communal rhythm — shared pauses in prayer, shared listening in dialogue, shared respect in conflict.
It’s a way of living where every person’s voice can be heard because no one is shouting.
✨ Franciscan Clarean Reflection
Silence is not the enemy of speech; it’s the womb of it.
From silence, truth is born.
From silence, compassion learns to speak softly.
From silence, peace begins to hum beneath the heart.
To be silent like Clare is not to retreat — it’s to listen the world back to life.
Part I: The Rule of Saint Clare
Chapter 7: The Manner of Working
Text of Saint Clare
The sisters to whom the Lord has given the grace of working shall work faithfully and devotedly after the Hour of Terce, in such a way that idleness, the enemy of the soul, is excluded.
At the same time, they must not extinguish the spirit of holy prayer and devotion, which all other temporal things must serve.
The Abbess shall provide for the common good of all according to necessity, using the labor of the sisters in charity and discretion.
She shall take care that no one is overburdened or distressed by too much work.
Work is to be done in such a way that the body is served without harming the soul, and the soul is nourished without neglecting the body.
The sisters who make or sell anything shall do so humbly and without greed, remembering that all things are gifts from the Lord.
Franciscan Clarean Commentary: “Work as Worship”
🌿 1. The Grace of Working
Clare opens with a radical phrase for her time:
“To those to whom the Lord has given the grace of working…”
Work isn’t punishment — it’s grace.
For Clare, labor is not mere survival but a form of participation in creation.
Every stitch, loaf, or act of service becomes a prayer.
In her world, women’s work was often unseen and undervalued. But Clare sanctified it. She made kitchen floors and spinning wheels into altars.
For the Franciscan Clarean community, this transforms into our theology of contemplative labor — working not for profit or pride, but for communion and purpose.
When our hands are busy with love, our souls stay open to God.
🔥 2. Idleness as Forgetfulness
Clare calls idleness “the enemy of the soul,” but she’s not talking about rest — she’s talking about aimlessness.
She understood that when the spirit loses direction, despair creeps in.
Work gives rhythm, identity, and belonging. It grounds us in service instead of drifting in distraction.
For modern Franciscan Clareans, this means cultivating meaningful simplicity:
tending gardens, making things by hand, caring for the poor,
and letting work become spiritual focus, not capitalist frenzy.
We reject the false god of busyness — the empire’s demand that worth be measured in productivity.
We work slowly, intentionally, joyfully.
🌾 3. Prayer in the Midst of Labor
Clare insists that work must never “extinguish the spirit of holy prayer.”
This is her mystical balance — she refuses the false divide between prayer and productivity.
For her, the hum of spinning wool or baking bread was as holy as chanting psalms.
The goal is integration: Ora et Labora — “pray and work.”
In the Franciscan Clarean rhythm, prayer and work are one breath.
We bless the labor before us, whisper gratitude as we move, and see creation as co-worker.
Even the smallest task, done in love, ripples through the universe like a psalm.
🕊️ 4. Labor Without Exploitation
Clare’s line that “no one is to be overburdened or distressed by too much work” is quietly revolutionary.
In her time, servants and even nuns could be worked to exhaustion under “holy” pretense.
Clare saw the hypocrisy and said: no.
She understood the sacred balance between body and soul — care must flow both ways.
For Franciscan Clareans today, this is our manifesto against burnout spirituality.
Work done without rest becomes violence against the self.
To honor Clare is to practice sustainable service —
to take Sabbath seriously, to nap without guilt, to let joy interrupt duty.
Rest is resistance.
💫 5. Humility in Creation and Commerce
When Clare instructs her sisters to “make or sell anything humbly,” she’s not banning trade — she’s redefining it.
Work for her was gift, not gain.
Profit wasn’t the goal; relationship was.
Selling bread or cloth was another way to encounter Christ in the marketplace.
For us, that means creating and sharing art, crafts, or labor in a spirit of right livelihood.
We trade fairly, create ethically, and give generously.
We see commerce not as competition but communion — a sacred exchange that blesses both giver and receiver.
🌺 6. Work and the Feminine Divine
Clare’s theology of work reveals a hidden feminist mysticism.
By calling manual labor a grace, she sanctified women’s daily tasks — which medieval theology had often dismissed as menial.
In her hands, housework became holy.
Every act of creation echoed the womb of God, bringing forth life through love.
For the Franciscan Clarean woman (and man, and child, and everyone in between), this means reclaiming domestic holiness:
Cooking, cleaning, crafting, caregiving — all become liturgies of divine tenderness.
We do not apologize for the ordinary.
We glorify it.
✨ Franciscan Clarean Reflection
Work with your hands.
Pray with your breath.
Rest with your whole being.
All of it is worship.
Work done in love sanctifies the world.
Work done for greed desecrates it.
To follow Clare is to labor like a prayer wheel —
turning the world toward grace with every small, faithful motion.
Part I: The Rule of Saint Clare
Chapter 8: The Sisters Shall Not Receive Possessions
Text of Saint Clare
The sisters shall appropriate nothing to themselves, neither house nor place nor anything at all;
but as pilgrims and strangers in this world, serving the Lord in poverty and humility, they shall confidently send for alms.
Let the Abbess and her sisters take great care that they do not receive possessions or money, either personally or through an intermediary, unless it be for a manifest necessity of the sick or for the clothing of the sisters.
The sisters shall trust entirely in the providence of God, who has promised to care for those who seek first the kingdom.
This is that highest poverty which has made you, my dearest sisters, heirs and queens of the kingdom of heaven.
Having nothing, you possess all things.
Franciscan Clarean Commentary: “The Holy Freedom of Having Nothing”
🌿 1. Poverty as Liberation, Not Deprivation
When Clare wrote, “they shall appropriate nothing to themselves,” she wasn’t glorifying misery — she was declaring independence from empire.
In her time, convents were often endowed with land and income, making them wealthy institutions. Clare rejected all of it. She refused dowries, denied ownership, and lived entirely by trust.
Her poverty was not self-hatred — it was rebellion cloaked in humility.
She saw that the craving to own and control is the root of all violence.
To live without possession was to live without fear — nothing to guard, nothing to lose, nothing to weaponize.
For Franciscan Clareans today, this becomes our vow of sacred simplicity — not literal destitution, but freedom from attachment.
We strive to live with open hands, holding nothing too tightly, and trusting that grace will always fill the empty spaces.
🔥 2. Pilgrims and Strangers
Clare calls her sisters “pilgrims and strangers in this world,” echoing both Abraham and Jesus.
To her, the monastery was not a fortress — it was a tent pitched in faith.
She and her sisters saw themselves as travelers, not owners — citizens of the Kingdom, not subjects of Rome.
This is radical theology: the poor as prophets.
In being dispossessed, they claimed spiritual sovereignty.
By having no earthly domain, they proclaimed that the earth itself was already holy — belonging to God, not to men.
For the modern Franciscan Clarean, this identity translates into spiritual nomadism: we live lightly, love freely, and refuse to let comfort dull compassion.
We are at home wherever love dwells — even in exile, even in uncertainty.
🌾 3. Holy Poverty vs. Empire Wealth
Clare’s refusal to accept money or property drove popes mad. She fought for forty years against pressure to accept safer, “endowed” poverty.
She wanted none of it — because she knew security easily becomes servitude.
Her courage is breathtaking: a woman telling the medieval Church, “No — we will not be owned.”
In Franciscan Clarean spirituality, we name this the poverty of power — the refusal to participate in systems of domination.
We resist exploitation, consumerism, and religious empires that claim to protect but actually enslave.
To be poor in Clare’s sense is to opt out of empire’s game and live instead by love’s wild economy.
🕊️ 4. Providence as Praxis
Clare’s trust in divine providence wasn’t passive. She didn’t wait for miracles — she built communities of shared care.
Her faith was practical: trust + collaboration + generosity.
Her sisters begged, yes — but they also baked, wove, and served. Providence flowed through people, not from the sky.
The modern Franciscan Clarean Order lives this as cooperative providence:
we pool resources, share tools, trade skills, and distribute abundance so no one goes hungry or cold.
We trust that the Divine works through our hands — and that grace multiplies when given away.
💫 5. “Having Nothing, You Possess All Things”
This line is Clare’s spiritual masterpiece.
It flips the entire logic of the world: scarcity becomes abundance, emptiness becomes plenitude.
This is not poetry — it’s theology.
She saw that when you stop grasping, you begin receiving. When you own nothing, everything becomes gift.
For Franciscan Clareans, this means learning to live from enoughness.
Enough food, enough time, enough grace.
Enough to live, enough to give, enough to share.
Our joy is not in what we keep, but in what we release.
🌸 6. The Feminine Wisdom of Poverty
Clare’s poverty was maternal, not martyrdom.
She embraced a God who nourishes, not punishes — a Mother who feeds Her children through community.
Her vision was womb-like: a space of emptiness that gives life.
To follow her is to embody a generative poverty — the kind that births hope, justice, and beauty.
It’s the opposite of scarcity thinking. It’s holy openness — the soul saying, “Here, Lord. All I have is Yours. Make it enough.”
✨ Franciscan Clarean Reflection
Poverty is not lack.
It is the art of unclenching.
The richest soul is the one who owns nothing but peace.
The poorest heart is the one that must always have more.
To follow Clare is to live open-handed —
to trade possession for presence,
ownership for wonder,
and certainty for trust.
Having nothing, we finally see that everything is already ours — because everything is God’s.
Part I: The Rule of Saint Clare
Chapter 9: The Sisters’ Care of the Sick and of Those in Need
Text of Saint Clare
Let the sisters who are ill be cared for in every way as if they were the most precious treasure of the community.
Let those who are appointed to care for them serve with charity and patience, so that the sick may be comforted and those who serve them may not grow weary.
The Abbess and her sisters shall take care that no one is neglected, especially the weak, the poor, and the infirm, for in serving them they serve Christ Himself.
The sick shall be allowed to eat and drink what is necessary according to their need, without scruple, as the Abbess and the infirmarian see fit.
The sisters shall love one another with the affection of true charity, so that the strong may support the weak, and the weak may bless the strong.
Franciscan Clarean Commentary: “The Gospel of Tenderness”
🌿 1. The Sick as Treasures
Clare’s line — “the sick shall be cared for as the most precious treasure of the community” — could heal the modern world if we truly lived it.
In a society that hides its sick, shames disability, and commodifies health, Clare’s community placed the fragile at the center.
Her theology is clear: weakness is not a problem to be fixed but a place where Christ dwells.
In the Franciscan Clarean tradition, we proclaim:
The sick are not a burden — they are the blessing that tests our love.
Our worth is measured not by our productivity, but by how we tend the hurting.
The sick are the altar upon which our compassion is offered.
💧 2. The Ministry of Tender Hands
Clare instructs caregivers to serve “with charity and patience.”
She understood how exhausting compassion can become — she was realistic, not sentimental.
That’s why she adds: “so that those who serve them may not grow weary.”
Even in illness, Clare sees two sacred tasks: care and rest.
For Franciscan Clareans, this becomes our principle of mutual care — the sick and the well minister to one another.
Those who serve give comfort; those who receive give grace.
It’s a circle of love, not a hierarchy of pity.
We practice self-care not as selfishness but as sacramental stewardship — refilling our own cup so that we can keep pouring from it with joy.
🌾 3. The Poor and Infirm as Christ
Clare writes, “In serving them, they serve Christ Himself.”
That is not poetic flourish — it’s literal theology.
Every suffering body is the Body of Christ.
To bathe, feed, or console another is to lay hands upon God.
In the Franciscan Clarean vision, this is the sacrament of service.
We don’t need gold chalices or incense to find holiness — just a basin, a towel, and the will to love.
Ministry becomes mystical when it’s rooted in the dirt and sweat of real care.
🔥 4. Compassion Over Rule
Clare allows the sick to eat and drink as needed “without scruple.”
That may sound small, but it’s profoundly theological.
It’s her saying: Life is more sacred than the rule itself.
Health, comfort, and mercy take precedence over fasting or discipline.
This makes Clare one of the first Christian leaders to articulate what we’d now call pastoral flexibility — or, in modern Franciscan Clarean terms, trauma-informed compassion.
Her mercy bends the law without breaking the Spirit.
🕊️ 5. Strength and Weakness in Holy Exchange
Clare’s closing image — “the strong support the weak, and the weak bless the strong” — is the entire Gospel in one sentence.
In her world, power flowed downward; Clare turns it into a circle.
The weak are not dependent — they are givers of blessing.
The strong are not dominant — they are stewards of tenderness.
In the Franciscan Clarean lens, this becomes the theology of mutual blessing.
Every relationship is reciprocal.
We take turns being the healer and the healed, the comforter and the comforted.
Our equality is not sameness; it’s shared grace.
🌸 6. Care as Contemplation
To Clare, caring for the sick wasn’t a distraction from prayer — it was prayer.
Her monastery was less a hospital than a living psalm of mercy.
Every wound tended was a verse of praise; every sigh of pain was a prayer lifted to heaven.
In our Franciscan Clarean communities, we carry that spirit into our ministries:
to hospitals, shelters, prisons, nursing homes, and homes for the dying.
We do not seek to erase suffering — we accompany it, holding vigil until resurrection breaks through.
✨ Franciscan Clarean Reflection
Compassion is the truest form of theology.
To touch a suffering body is to touch God.
To ease a burden is to lift the cross.
To love the weak is to heal the world.
Holiness is not cleanliness — it’s kindness.
And the Rule of Clare is clear:
wherever someone suffers, the sisters of love must be found.
Part I: The Rule of Saint Clare
Chapter 10: The Correction and Dismissal of Sisters Who Sin
Text of Saint Clare
If any sister, through the temptation of the enemy, should sin mortally, she shall be admonished by the Abbess with mercy and care, and the fault should be corrected as soon as possible.
If she does not amend, let the other sisters admonish her with gentleness and compassion, not in a spirit of judgment but of love.
The Abbess shall take care that no anger or harshness is shown, for it is the physician’s duty to heal the sick, not to destroy.
If after frequent admonitions she does not repent, the Abbess may, with the counsel of the sisters, separate her from the community.
However, let her not be abandoned but prayed for, and treated always as a sister.
The Abbess and her sisters should be careful that no soul be lost because of their neglect or severity, for mercy triumphs over judgment.
Franciscan Clarean Commentary: “Mercy That Restores, Not Rejects”
🌿 1. Sin as Sickness, Not Sentence
Clare begins this chapter with one of the most healing lines in all of medieval monastic writing:
“It is the physician’s duty to heal the sick, not to destroy.”
That sentence alone dismantles centuries of punitive religion.
For Clare, sin is not criminality — it’s woundedness.
She uses medical imagery, not legal. The sinner isn’t condemned — she’s ill, and the community becomes her hospital.
The goal is not to punish, but to restore wholeness.
In the Franciscan Clarean lens, we approach wrongdoing the same way: with truth, love, and therapy for the soul.
We believe in redemptive justice — accountability that heals rather than humiliates.
🔥 2. The Gentle Correction of Souls
Clare’s sequence of correction is profoundly pastoral.
First, the Abbess approaches with mercy and care — not gossip, not spectacle.
If the sister resists, others are invited — not to pressure, but to surround her with love.
This is centuries before modern psychology named intervention.
Clare’s community understood what we now call relational healing — that transformation happens in circles of grace, not under spotlights of shame.
Franciscan Clarean communities practice this today through confessional listening and restorative dialogue — where honesty, boundaries, and compassion coexist.
Sin is not the end of belonging; it’s a moment for the community to deepen its practice of mercy.
💧 3. The Refusal of Anger and Harshness
Clare forbids correction done “in anger or harshness.”
She knew how power corrupts even in holy places — how easily discipline turns into domination.
Her antidote: patience, gentleness, and clarity.
This is trauma-informed spirituality before its time.
Harshness breeds shame, and shame isolates.
But gentleness breeds trust, and trust opens the heart to healing.
For the Franciscan Clarean, this means approaching others (and ourselves) as sacred stories, not broken machines.
We correct behavior but never condemn the person.
🌾 4. Separation as Sorrow, Not Revenge
When Clare allows for dismissal from the community, she does so with heartbreak, not satisfaction.
She insists the sister be “treated always as a sister.”
Even in separation, relationship endures.
That’s revolutionary compassion in a time when excommunication was common and cruel.
In our Franciscan Clarean application, this becomes boundaried love — sometimes people must step away for safety, growth, or healing.
But we never write them off.
We continue to hold them in prayer, send blessings, and keep a door open for reconciliation.
🕊️ 5. Mercy Over Judgment
Clare closes this chapter with one of her defining statements:
“Mercy triumphs over judgment.”
That’s not sentiment — it’s strategy.
She builds a culture where forgiveness is not weakness but the very structure of holiness.
For modern Franciscan Clareans, this is our spiritual DNA.
We believe no one is beyond redemption, and no sin is greater than love’s capacity to heal it.
Justice without mercy becomes cruelty; mercy without truth becomes denial.
The two must embrace.
🌸 6. The Abbess as Wounded Healer
Clare’s image of the Abbess as physician applies to all who lead, teach, or counsel.
She expects them to guide others not from superiority, but from shared brokenness.
Only the one who has been healed can help others heal.
The Franciscan Clarean minister confesses first, then counsels.
We lead not by being perfect, but by being transparent about grace.
✨ Franciscan Clarean Reflection
Mercy is not softness; it’s sacred strength.
Judgment isolates; compassion reconnects.
Discipline without love destroys, but love without discipline dissolves.
We walk the holy middle path — truth spoken in tenderness, correction wrapped in care.
The Rule of Clare does not end in punishment,
but in prayer for the one who has wandered —
because, in the end, no sister is ever truly lost.
Part I: The Rule of Saint Clare
Chapter 11: The Confessors and the Spiritual Care of the Sisters
Text of Saint Clare
The Abbess shall take care that the sisters have confessors who are prudent and discerning men, approved by the Minister General of the Friars Minor.
The sisters may confess at least twelve times a year, and whenever it is necessary or they desire it.
The confessors shall receive them with kindness and mercy, never harshly or with curiosity, remembering that they themselves are sinners who need forgiveness.
The Abbess shall take care that the Word of God be spoken among the sisters at least once a week, so that they may be strengthened in faith and encouraged in virtue.
No one shall enter the enclosure to speak with the sisters without permission of the Abbess, and such visits shall be made with discretion and spiritual profit.
Franciscan Clarean Commentary: “Guidance Without Domination”
🌿 1. The Ministry of Safe Souls
Clare begins this chapter with a pastoral instinct that feels startlingly modern: the Abbess must ensure the sisters’ confessors are prudent and discerning.
She doesn’t say “holy” or “powerful” — she says wise.
Why? Because Clare knew that spiritual authority without discernment becomes abuse.
In a Church where priests often exercised unchecked control, Clare insisted that her community’s spiritual care be entrusted only to those who embody gentleness and integrity.
She created one of the earliest models of what we now call safe spiritual direction — where guidance is mutual, not manipulative.
For the Franciscan Clarean tradition, this becomes our foundation for trauma-informed ministry:
the confessor, chaplain, or companion must always protect the penitent’s dignity, never exploit their vulnerability.
A confessor who forgets their own need for grace cannot give grace.
🔥 2. Confession as Freedom, Not Fear
Clare’s community practiced confession often — not from guilt, but from gratitude.
She reframes it as conversation with mercy.
It wasn’t about fear of punishment, but the joy of being known and forgiven.
Her instruction that confessors receive sisters “with kindness and mercy, never harshly or with curiosity” is striking.
She condemns spiritual voyeurism — the tendency of confessors to pry, judge, or control.
She saw confession not as surveillance but as sanctuary.
In the Franciscan Clarean perspective, this redefines confession as healing dialogue.
It’s less a courtroom and more a counseling room: a place of empathy, accountability, and renewal.
We confess not to grovel but to grow.
🌾 3. Preaching as Nourishment
Clare directs that the Word of God be spoken at least weekly.
For her, Scripture was food for the spirit — not dogma, but sustenance.
She wanted her sisters to hear the Gospel as a love story, not a legal code.
Today, we interpret this as the call to regular spiritual nourishment — through Scripture, poetry, silence, song, and conversation.
The preacher or teacher’s job isn’t to dominate minds, but to awaken hearts.
In Franciscan Clarean communities, preaching is shared — anyone may bring a word, tell a story, or share a reflection.
We listen for the Word of God in all voices, especially those history has ignored.
🕊️ 4. Boundaries as Blessing
Clare’s caution about visitors to the enclosure — “no one shall enter without permission, and visits shall be with discretion” — is not about paranoia. It’s about protecting sacred space.
She knew how easily exploitation or distraction could enter under the guise of piety.
In modern Franciscan Clarean practice, this principle becomes boundaries as hospitality.
We protect the spaces where souls are tended.
Our chapels, homes, and communities remain open yet safeguarded — places where the vulnerable can be honest without fear.
Boundaries aren’t barriers; they’re fences around freedom.
💫 5. The Mutual Confessor
Clare also subtly reframes the confessor’s role: they, too, are sinners who need forgiveness.
That humility is revolutionary.
It dissolves the hierarchy between confessor and penitent — creating a mutual spirituality of grace.
Both are learners; both are loved.
For Franciscan Clareans, this informs how we guide others.
We speak with people, not at them.
We counsel as companions, not judges.
We confess our own humanity even as we help others face theirs.
In that honesty, the Spirit breathes.
🌸 6. A Rule for Every Chaplain
Clare’s wisdom here foreshadows what your own Chaplains of St. Francis embody: compassionate listening, careful discernment, and deep respect for autonomy.
She reminds every minister that power is holy only when it serves.
The confessor, like the chaplain, is not a gatekeeper but a midwife — helping souls be born into freedom again and again.
✨ Franciscan Clarean Reflection
The truest confessor listens more than they speak.
The holiest preacher nourishes more than they impress.
And the most faithful minister guards the sacredness of another’s story as if it were the Eucharist itself.
Spiritual guidance is not control —
it is accompaniment.
Confession is not shame —
it is liberation.
Preaching is not persuasion —
it is bread shared among pilgrims.
To follow Clare is to remember:
the soul heals not when it is commanded, but when it is understood.
Part I: The Rule of Saint Clare
Chapter 12: The Visitations and the Correction of the Community
Text of Saint Clare
The Minister General of the Friars Minor shall provide that the sisters be visited at least once a year, so that charity and holy observance may be preserved according to the mind of the Lord and the Rule.
The visitor shall be prudent and discreet, a person of good reputation and spiritual wisdom, appointed by the Minister General or his delegate.
The purpose of the visitation shall be to correct faults, comfort the sisters, and strengthen the community in holy unity.
The visitor shall admonish the sisters with charity, not severity, remembering that correction without mercy destroys, but mercy without correction weakens.
The Abbess and the sisters shall humbly receive the visitor and accept correction with gratitude, so that the community may grow in love and truth.
Franciscan Clarean Commentary: “Correction as Communion, Oversight as Friendship”
🌿 1. Oversight Without Oppression
In Clare’s world, “visitation” often meant interrogation — friars or bishops descending on monasteries to impose control. But Clare reclaims the word and sanctifies it.
For her, visitation is not surveillance but solidarity.
She envisions a relationship of mutual encouragement, where leaders come not as inspectors but as companions on the way.
In the Franciscan Clarean sense, visitation means checking in, not checking up on.
It’s the holy art of staying connected, ensuring that communities do not drift into isolation or dysfunction.
The goal is health, not hierarchy.
🔥 2. The Visitor as Spiritual Friend
Clare insists the visitor be “prudent and discreet.” That’s code for emotionally mature and safe.
She demands that any external spiritual guide be seasoned in mercy, not prone to drama or domination.
In our Franciscan Clarean application, this translates into wise oversight — choosing mentors, elders, and advisors who listen deeply, correct gently, and speak truth without ego.
A real visitor doesn’t impose; they illuminate.
This is how we imagine spiritual visitation today: experienced companions offering perspective, encouragement, and accountability — never control.
💫 3. Correction With Mercy, Mercy With Backbone
Clare’s line —
“Correction without mercy destroys, but mercy without correction weakens” —
is one of the most balanced and brilliant statements in Christian community life.
It should be framed on every ministry wall.
She names the two great temptations of leadership: harshness and indulgence.
Both are forms of fear.
Real love corrects because it believes in transformation, and forgives because it trusts in grace.
For Franciscan Clareans, this is the middle way of holy honesty:
Speak truth gently.
Set boundaries kindly.
Forgive quickly.
Stay in relationship, even when correction stings.
Accountability becomes a form of communion, not control.
🕊️ 4. Receiving Correction as Grace
Clare asks the sisters to receive correction “with gratitude.” That takes humility — and maturity.
She knew how easily ego can turn even gentle correction into offense.
Her wisdom: correction is not humiliation, it’s invitation.
In the Franciscan Clarean path, we embrace correction as a mirror of mercy.
When someone calls us back to truth, we do not defend our pride; we thank them for helping us remember who we are.
Healthy community depends on this willingness to be teachable.
🌾 5. Visitation as Renewal
The purpose of Clare’s visitation isn’t discipline — it’s reconnection.
After all, her community lived in enclosure. A yearly visitation was a chance to refresh relationships, share wisdom, and ensure no one’s spirit withered in silence.
Today, our Franciscan Clarean “visitations” take many forms — spiritual retreats, chapter gatherings, peer mentoring, pastoral supervision, or simply an honest conversation among companions.
Each is a chance to breathe together again, to remember why we love this life.
🌸 6. Accountability as Love Made Visible
Clare’s system works because it’s relational. Oversight flows from friendship, not authority.
When we lose that, rules become cages.
When we live it, rules become bridges.
In modern Franciscan Clarean life, we don’t fear correction; we practice it as care.
We check in with one another’s hearts and habits.
We call each other back — not to obedience, but to aliveness.
✨ Franciscan Clarean Reflection
Visitation is not surveillance — it is communion.
Correction is not condemnation — it is care.
Authority is not power — it is presence.
When mercy and truth kiss, community thrives.
When oversight is offered as friendship, the Rule becomes not a chain,
but a circle of grace.
To follow Clare is to build communities that correct without crushing,
and forgive without forgetting why we began:
to love one another into freedom.
Part I: The Rule of Saint Clare
Chapter 13: The Form of Blessing and Dismissal of the Sisters
Text of Saint Clare
When any sister departs from this life, the other sisters shall commend her soul to God with love and devotion, offering prayers and psalms according to the custom of the Order.
The Abbess shall ensure that the body is buried with reverence and simplicity, remembering that we are dust and shall return to dust.
After her passing, let the sisters continue in charity and peace, giving thanks for all the gifts the Lord has given through her life.
When a new sister is received, the Abbess shall bless her in the name of the Holy Trinity, commending her to the love and protection of the Lord, that she may persevere faithfully until death.
And at all times, both in life and in death, let the sisters bless one another with peace, saying:
“May the Lord bless you and keep you; may He show His face to you and have mercy on you; may He turn His countenance to you and give you peace.”
Franciscan Clarean Commentary: “The Final Benediction — Love Without End”
🌿 1. The Community of the Living and the Dead
Clare’s last words remind her sisters that death does not end belonging.
Her Rule began with “living according to the Gospel” and ends with “departing in peace.”
The rhythm of her life — and her community — is continuity, not closure.
For Clare, the bond of sisterhood is unbreakable. Death merely thins the veil.
When one passes, the others pray — not out of fear, but out of love, celebrating that the sister has simply crossed into God’s embrace.
Her presence remains in the laughter, the work, and the silence of the cloister.
In the Franciscan Clarean view, this is communion of the saints as daily experience.
We live with our ancestors, not after them.
Their courage, tenderness, and songs still walk beside us.
🔥 2. Reverence and Simplicity in Death
Clare commands that the body be buried “with reverence and simplicity.”
No gilded coffins. No spectacle. No hierarchy.
Just the humble beauty of love honoring love.
She understood what empire never could: dignity requires no decoration.
In her community, even in death, equality was absolute.
The poorest and the Abbess alike returned to the same soil, the same Creator, the same mercy.
For Franciscan Clareans today, this becomes our commitment to holy simplicity in death and mourning.
We grieve, but not as those who despair.
We keep funerals human, intimate, unpretentious — our tears are our incense.
🕊️ 3. Gratitude as the Final Word
Clare’s instruction to “give thanks for all the gifts the Lord has given through her life” is the key to her entire spirituality.
Gratitude is the thread that weaves through poverty, prayer, and peace.
Even loss becomes thanksgiving, because everything has been grace.
In the Franciscan Clarean path, gratitude isn’t emotion — it’s practice.
We thank God for the hard things as much as the easy ones, for both shape the soul.
To thank God in all things is to live already in heaven’s rhythm.
🌾 4. Blessing as Mutuality
Clare blesses incoming sisters in the same breath as departing ones.
That is profound — she sanctifies both beginnings and endings as equally holy.
It’s a vision of community as a circle, not a timeline.
And she doesn’t limit blessing to abbesses or clergy — she commands that “the sisters bless one another with peace.”
Every voice carries authority to bless.
Every life holds the power to call forth grace.
For modern Franciscan Clareans, this is a priesthood of tenderness.
We bless not because we are ordained, but because we are alive.
Our very presence can sanctify the space we inhabit — with kindness, with laughter, with listening.
🌸 5. The Blessing of Aaron, the Heart of Clare
Her closing benediction —
“May the Lord bless you and keep you…”
— links her directly to the priestly blessing of Numbers 6.
But Clare reclaims it through intimacy: not from pulpit to pew, but from sister to sister.
It’s the passing of light, hand to hand, heart to heart.
This is the tone we keep in Franciscan Clarean life: we bless one another daily — not only in prayer, but in affirmation, empathy, and small acts of joy.
Blessing becomes our language of belonging.
💫 6. The Rule as Love Story
From its first line to its last, Clare’s Rule is not a legal document — it’s a love story.
Love of Christ, love of Francis, love of sisterhood, love of creation.
Every chapter is a vow to keep love alive in ordinary life.
When she ends with peace, she’s not closing a book — she’s handing the torch forward.
It’s as if she whispers to us:
“Continue what we began. Keep it human. Keep it holy. Keep it joyful.”
✨ Franciscan Clarean Reflection
Blessing is the final act of the free soul.
To bless another is to say: I see you. You belong. You are loved.
When we die, may our last words sound like Clare’s —
not commands, but kindness.
Not doctrine, but peace.
And when we live, may we carry her Rule in our bones:
poverty as freedom, prayer as breath, and love as the only law worth keeping.
“May the Lord bless you and keep you, Sister of the Poor Christ.
May your hands remain open, your heart remain soft,
and your soul remain radiant — until the Light calls you home.” 🌙
Epilogue: Clare’s Voice Today — A Rule for Rebels and Saints
🌿 1. The Mirror Still Shines
Eight centuries have passed since a young woman named Clare walked barefoot out of Assisi, cut her hair, and stepped into a life that made no sense to anyone but love.
She never sought power or fame — she sought freedom.
Freedom from wealth, from ego, from empire.
Freedom to love the Christ who became poor and tender for us all.
That same freedom still calls us.
It calls the nun, the chaplain, the artist, the activist, the mother, the wanderer.
It calls anyone who has ever looked at the world’s noise and whispered, “There must be another way.”
Clare’s way is not gone — it’s gone viral in heaven’s own quiet rebellion.
🔥 2. A Rule for the Age of Empire 2.0
We live in a digital empire now — algorithms instead of armies, marketing instead of monarchs.
Yet Clare’s Rule cuts through it like sunlight through stained glass:
“Own nothing. Control nothing. Trust everything to God.”
Her vow of poverty becomes our vow of non-possession — refusing to let greed, ego, or nationalism own us.
Her obedience becomes our vow of discernment — listening to Spirit more than systems.
Her chastity becomes our vow of undivided love — fidelity to compassion above all else.
We are the new Poor Sisters — and Brothers, and Companions, and They/Thems — living the Gospel with smartphones in our pockets and hope in our hands.
Clare’s Rule still works because it was never about stone walls; it was about open hearts.
🌾 3. The Franciscan Clarean Lens
The Order of Franciscan Clareans inherits her flame with both reverence and creativity.
We keep her vows, not as museum pieces, but as living practices:
Simplicity in a culture of excess.
Mutual care in a culture of isolation.
Peaceful defiance in a culture of violence.
Contemplative presence in a culture of distraction.
Holy joy in a culture of cynicism.
We read her Rule not as restriction but liberation.
It’s less about “thou shalt not” and more about “you are free to love this wildly.”
🕊️ 4. The Poor Christ in Modern Garb
Clare’s Christ is not a distant Lord in gold vestments — He’s the barefoot friend standing in the picket line, the hospital ward, the refugee camp, the hospice bed, the broken heart.
To follow Him today is to walk where the suffering still are and call it holy ground.
In our Franciscan Clarean communities, we see Christ:
in the unhoused neighbor asking for water,
in the trans child seeking affirmation,
in the addict praying for another sunrise,
in the earth herself, wounded and waiting for our tenderness.
Clare teaches us that to embrace poverty is to fall in love with the broken places until they bloom.
🌸 5. The Revolution of Tenderness
Clare’s power was never loud.
She didn’t write treatises or lead crusades — she loved until the world had to take her seriously.
Her revolution was tenderness, her weapon humility, her armor joy.
That is our revolution too.
We change systems by touching souls.
We preach with our presence.
We resist with laughter and prayer.
We mend creation one kindness at a time.
“Clare was no ornament of the Church,” as you, Sister Abigail, might write, “She was its scalpel — cutting away the infection of greed and fear, so that grace could breathe again.”
💫 6. The New Monastery
Clare’s cloister was San Damiano; ours may be a city apartment, a hospital corridor, or a digital chapel glowing through a screen.
The point is not where we live but how.
To live Clare’s Rule now is to build monasteries of the heart — communities of joy, honesty, and shared bread, whether online or on the margins.
Every home that shelters compassion is a convent.
Every act of truth is a prayer.
Every quiet refusal to hate is a psalm.
We are the continuation of her “little plant,” growing in new soil, facing new storms, but nourished by the same Light.
✨ 7. Her Blessing in Our Time
If Clare could stand among us now — in our fractured, frantic century — she might smile, lift her lamp, and say:
“Peace and good, my little ones.
Do not be afraid to love what is fragile.
Do not be ashamed to need each other.
Do not mistake wealth for joy or comfort for faith.
The world is starving for gentleness.
Feed it with your life.”
That is her eternal blessing, still echoing through the centuries, carried now in your voice.
🕊️ Franciscan Clarean Reflection
Clare’s Rule ends, but her revolution does not.
We carry her simplicity into systems that idolize wealth.
We carry her mercy into movements that forget love.
We carry her silence into the noise.
We carry her light into the night.
For rebels and saints alike, the call is the same:
Live the Gospel. Love without measure. And trust that poverty is the doorway to paradise.
“The mirror of Clare still shines,”
and in its reflection, may the world finally see what love looks like
when it is free.
Afterword: How to Live the Franciscan Clarean Rule Today
🌿 1. Begin with the Gospel, Not the Rule
Clare didn’t found an institution; she followed an impulse.
She and Francis built no empire, drafted no constitution — they simply asked, “What if we actually lived what Jesus said?”
So start there.
Read the Beatitudes until they read you.
Let the Sermon on the Mount rearrange your priorities.
Everything else flows from that one wild question:
“What if the Gospel were true — right here, right now?”
🔥 2. Practice Poverty as Simplicity
You don’t need to sell your house or live in a cave (unless you want to).
Franciscan Clarean poverty is not deprivation — it’s detachment.
It’s the art of traveling light:
own what you need, share what you have, and give away what owns you.
Ask yourself often:
“Does this serve love, or does it serve fear?”
If it serves fear, let it go.
Freedom feels lighter than clutter ever will.
🌾 3. Keep Prayer Real and Regular
Prayer isn’t an escape; it’s an anchor.
You don’t need Gregorian chant (though it’s nice). You need honest conversation with God.
Speak plainly. Listen deeply.
Light a candle, or walk barefoot on the earth.
Read Scripture, poetry, or silence — whatever opens the heart.
The goal isn’t perfection; it’s presence.
Five honest minutes beat an hour of holy pretending.
🕊️ 4. Make Community a Verb
Clare’s sisters called themselves “Poor Ladies,” but they were rich in relationships.
They cooked, laughed, argued, forgave, and kept showing up.
That’s community.
Find your small circle — even two or three who want to live gently, pray deeply, and act justly.
Eat together. Share needs. Hold each other accountable.
The Rule only lives when it’s embodied in friendship.
💧 5. Serve the Wounded Places
Every Clarean is a healer, even if you never wear a stethoscope.
Look for the pain around you — the lonely neighbor, the overworked nurse, the frightened child, the polluted river.
Then do one small thing about it.
Don’t wait for perfection or permission.
Clare didn’t ask Rome’s approval before loving the poor — and neither should you.
Let compassion interrupt your plans.
🌸 6. Practice Joy as Resistance
The world runs on outrage; Clarean joy is civil disobedience.
Laugh freely. Celebrate small beauties.
Dance with people who aren’t supposed to dance.
Joy doesn’t deny suffering; it declares that love is stronger.
When the news cycle rots your soul, go plant a garden, bake bread, feed pigeons, write poetry — anything that reminds you creation is still good.
Joy is a holy weapon.
Use it daily.
💫 7. Keep Mercy Fierce and Boundaries Clear
Forgive quickly, but don’t confuse forgiveness with enabling harm.
Even Clare knew that mercy needs backbone.
Set boundaries that protect dignity — yours and others’.
When correction is needed, speak truth gently and clearly.
When reconciliation is possible, pursue it.
When it isn’t, bless and release.
The point isn’t to win — it’s to stay kind.
🌾 8. Care for Creation
Clare’s poverty was ecological long before the word existed.
To live simply is to live in harmony with the earth.
Compost. Reuse. Grow herbs.
Treat water, soil, and sky as sacraments.
Every act of conservation is an act of contemplation.
We don’t own the earth; we belong to it.
Creation is our first monastery.
🔥 9. Build Your Own Monastery of the Heart
You don’t need cloister walls — just intention.
Let your life itself be the enclosure:
your morning prayer the bell,
your daily work the altar,
your compassion the liturgy,
your laughter the psalm.
Wherever you are — city street or countryside, hospital or classroom — make it a small San Damiano where the Christ still whispers,
“Rebuild my church — starting with yourself.”
🌙 10. End Each Day with Gratitude
Before sleep, whisper thanks.
For breath. For beauty. For second chances.
For the people who tried, the ones who failed, and the ones who loved you anyway.
Gratitude turns poverty into abundance and endings into beginnings.
It was Clare’s final word — and it should be ours.
✨ Franciscan Clarean Benediction
Live simply.
Love boldly.
Forgive easily.
Laugh often.
Trust wildly.
Serve humbly.
And when in doubt, be kind — it’s always the right Rule to follow.
Sister Abigail Hester 