August 2, First day of the Novena to St. Clare

Today we begin the Novena to St. Clare. As we pray for our personal intentions, let us pray for peace for all people during these times of war and discouragement.

Sr. Dianne Short, OSC

Clare of Assisi was no stranger to war and bloodshed. She came from a noble family and her father and uncles were knights. When she was very young, her family was exiled in Perugia during the civil war between the nobility and the commoners of Assisi. Francis, and what he stood for, was the enemy. It is no wonder Clare’s family was enraged when she sought to follow him several years later. But something had changed in Clare in the years after her family had returned home—something which allowed her to see the radical change that had also occurred in Francis. She recognized the Spirit of God at work in the one who had formerly caused her so much grief and loss. She did not keep Francis imprisoned in the mental boxes of her own past hurts and experiences of him and what he stood for. Her heart was open to being changed and allowing others to change for the better also. “Nothing is impossible with God.”

In these days of so much division and discord, we pray that St. Clare will intercede for us to be true vessels of Jesus’ peace, forgiveness, and reconciliation.

Sr. Dianne Short, OSC

Ask the Poor Clares to pray for your intentions: www.poorclarescincinnati.org   

Visit their Facebook page: Franciscan Monastery of St. Clare of Cincinnati, Ohio 

Click here to pray the Novena to St. Clare – Day 1