August 6, Fifth day of the Novena to St. Clare

Today we pray for our youth to be safe, loved, and to know God.

Day 5 – Sr. Vickie

In the Acts of the Process of Canonization, Sr. Filippa testified that Clare’s mother, Ortolana di Offreduccio, was apprehensive about the birth of her daughter, so she frequently visited a nearby church. One day, while Ortolana was praying for the safe delivery of her child, she heard a voice: “O lady, do not be afraid, for you will joyfully bring forth a clear light that will illumine the world.” Soon, a daughter was born into the Offreduccio family, and she was named “Chiara” or “Clare,” meaning “light.”

I made my first Novena to St. Clare just after I began discerning a contemplative religious vocation. I didn’t quite understand what I was feeling, but I felt drawn to a contemplative life, so I wrote down my intention and mailed it to one of our Poor Clare monasteries. I asked for prayers to “light” the way in my discernment process, so that I would be open to wherever God was calling me. Well, the path to my Poor Clare vocation was indeed “lit,” and I became a true believer in the power of making a Novena to St. Clare.

Around the 4th of July, we begin receiving prayer intentions for the Novena. Over the years, I notice more and more petitions from parents for their children. Sometimes, these prayer requests are difficult to hear—a mother asking prayers for her teenage daughter contemplating suicide, or parents asking for prayers for their toddler undergoing cancer treatments. Sometimes these prayer requests are prayers of gratitude—a successful surgery for an injured high school football star who will be able to accept a college scholarship and continue to play ball, or an ultrasound showing a healthy fetus growing inside her mother’s womb.

For hundreds of years, Poor Clares around the world have received prayer petitions for the Novena to St. Clare. During this year’s Novena, we again seek St. Clare’s “light,” asking for her to intercede for all the youth in our world. We ask that all children be safe, know that they are loved, and continue to grow in knowledge of God.

Sr. Vickie Griner, OSC

Ask the Poor Clares to pray for your intentions on their website: Poor Clares Cincinnati

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

Click here to pray the Novena to St. Clare – Day 5