Today, as we remember and celebrate the life of St Clare, Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Matthew (18: 15-20) in which Jesus shares with his disciples a way for resolving conflicts with each other.  After the Gospel, Fr Paul shares a little about the life of St Clare.

Fr Paul says Clare was born at Assisi and she came under the influence of St Francis of Assisi. As such she left home at the age of 18 and she began a community that grew to become what is known today as the ‘Poor Clares’. This order had a radical attachment to poverty, which made it much more severe to live under than most other orders of nuns at that time. The order was sustained solely by money that they begged for. Successive Popes tried to modify this rule, but Clare and the order resisted this.  Clare was a noted contemplative. She was a caring mother to her nuns. Clare died at Assisi in 1253.

On this day, Fr Paul says as we celebrate Clare’s life, we ask her to pray for us.